Earl Bamber Motorsport’s Dale Wood has claimed the final race of the season opening Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup round at Albert Park, whilst fourth place was enough to give Harri Jones round honours in Equity One Pro.

Wood prevailed in a fierce battle for the win with Jones in the Melbourne twilight.

Victory in the final race wasn’t quite enough to give Wood the round win in Equity One Pro, the Victorian missing out by just a single point, whilst third for the round was decided on a tiebreak between Michelin Juniors Marcos Flack and Ryder Quinn, the former getting the nod by virtue of a second place in the finale.

SP Tools Pro-Am round honours went to Wood’s Earl Bamber Motorsport teammate Adrian Flack, the reigning Pro-Am champion sealing his second race win of the weekend to claim a comfortable round win.

Sam Shahin and Rodney Jane were also tied for points behind Flack, with The Bend Motorsport Park driver Shahin claiming second for the round through a race three DNF for Jane.

At the start of race three, Dale Wood made another brilliant start from second on the grid, once again getting the better of Harri Jones into turn one as there was carnage behind.

Porsche Centre Melbourne Motorsport driver Fabian Coulthard locked up trying to pass Carrera Cup rookie Glen Wood in the Ranbuild entry, spearing into the side of Wood, who in turn pushed Dylan O’Keeffe into the turn one runoff.

Coulthard and Wood both spun back onto the track, with the vast majority of the 27-car field all caught up in the aftermath of the initial incident, which left Coulthard with a 30-point penalty in the championship.

Nine cars took to the run off behind O’Keeffe, as Scott Pye, Nick McBride, Angelo Mouzouris, Lockie Bloxsom, Nash Morris, Matt Belford, Daniel Stutterd, Sam Shahin, and Marc Cini all took evasive action.

Several SP Tools Pro-Am competitors suffered race-ending damage, as Matt Slavin tagged Rodney Jane into a spin, with the Sonic entry spearing into the stationary Coulthard, whilst Slavin retired to the pits as the race went back to green.

Matt Belford also clipped the rear of Coulthard’s BWT entry, inflicting enough damage for the I.D Land entry to be forced into retirement after making it back to the pits, ending what had been a strong weekend for the Victorian in Pro-Am.

RAM Motorsport’s Dean Cook was the fourth and final Pro-Am driver who was out at turn one, having a separate incident after taking to the inside of the apex tyre bundle and collecting the side of Harrison Goodman.

With several cars strewn through turn one and two the safety car was called, with Wood leading from Jones, Bayley Hall, Ryder Quinn, and Marcos Flack, with Adrian Flack leading the reduced Pro-Am field in tenth outright.

There was drama at turn one once again off the restart, as Michelin Juniors Bayley Hall and Marco Giltrap both locked up and ran into the turn one gravel from third and sixth respectively, with Hall nearly spinning back onto the racing surface.

Ryder Quinn then ran wide at turn four, promoting another Michelin Junior in Marcos Flack up onto the podium, whilst Quinn continued to gradually fall back through the pack to finish sixth.

Flack would soon find himself with the best seat in Albert Park to witness the battle for the lead as Jones ranged up to the back of Wood as he charged towards a potential clean sweep of the opening round in Equity One Pro.

The 2022 champion would get the move done at turn eleven on lap nine, though in his vigorous defence of the top spot, he found himself pushed wide courtesy of a slight tap from the Connected Spaces entry of Wood.

Flack would be the big beneficiary as the Sonic driver was gifted second place, whilst Jackson Walls found himself right in the thick of the podium battle after his qualifying mishap, having stormed through from twelfth on the grid.

The Objective Racing entry swooped around the outside of the Porsche Centre Melbourne Motorsport car of Jones at turn three on the following lap, the Queenslander having hurt his tyres following the touch from Wood.

Wood crossed the line just over two seconds ahead of Flack, with Walls holding on to the final spot of the podium ahead of a recovering Jones as second through to fourth were covered by half a second.

In SP Tools Pro-Am, Adrian Flack was once again running firmly in the midfield of the outright field, finishing thirteenth outright in the Agas National entry, some six outright positions and twenty-two seconds ahead of Sam Shahin.

Having survived the first corner pileup, Daniel Stutterd claimed the final podium spot of the weekend in the SP Tools Pro-Am class, finishing a further eight seconds behind Shahin for TekworkX Motorsport.

The next round of the 2024 Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia season will represent the category’s first ever visit to New Zealand at the ITM Taupo Super400 from April 19-21.