Porsche Motorsport

Cooper Murray’s Clean Sweep at Adelaide 500

The 18-year-old won a shortened third race of the weekend after once again making a near-perfect start from pole position and leading the field through the opening lap.

Murray took his sixth career race victory leading David Wall and the second Porsche Centre Brighton – sponsored car of Dale Wood.

Wood entered the Porsche one-make series in 2018 after a lengthy stint as a fulltime driver in Supercars.

Murray never put a foot wrong all weekend to kickstart his campaign in style. This win not only puts him in the lead of the Michelin Junior class, but also gives him the top spot in the outright standings. This is only Murray’s second season in the series.

“It’s a great way to start our 2020 campaign – three races, three wins and the championship lead, you can’t ask anything more than that,” Murray said.

“It’s a great confidence boost going into the Grand Prix in a few weeks, as well as the Porsche Michelin opportunity to head to Le Mans and watch that race with Porsche.

“It’s been a great start to the season.”

Dale Wood battled in the opening lap of the race after making a flying start from the third row and challenging Wall for second.

The Porsche Payce Carrera Cup Australia consists of 25 races across eight rounds in Adelaide and at the Australian Grand Prix, Phillip Island, Darwin, Townsville, The Bend in South Australia, Bathurst and the Gold Coast. •

Porsche Centre Brighton – sponsored Cooper Murray made it a clean sweep of all three races in the opening round of the 2020 Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup Australia championship held in South Australia at the Adelaide 500 on 20–23 February.

Bathurst pole for Porsche

OVERALL RACE RESULTS 1. Gounon/Soulet/Pepper Bentley Continental GT3, 314 laps 2. Parente/Barnicoat/Blomqvist McLaren 720S GT3, 314 laps 3. Van Gisbergen/Whincup/Götz Mercedes AMG GT3, 314 laps 4. Jaminet/Pilet/Campbell Porsche 911 GT3 R, 314 laps 7. Werner/Preining/Cairoli Porsche 911 GT3 R, 314 laps 9. Bamber/Vanthoor/Lowndes Porsche 911 GT3 R, 312 laps 10. S. Grove/B. Grove/Barker Porsche 911 GT3 R, 312 laps 11. Calvert-Jones/Dumas/Evans Porsche 911 GT3 R, 311 laps

The Porsche works driver turned the fastest lap of the day (2:03.554 minutes) in qualifying. Thirty-three of the cars racing were GT3 cars – a Bathurst 12-Hour record. NED Racing Team had Porsche works driver Romain Dumas (France), Porsche Junior Jaxon Evans (New Zealand) and David Calvert-Jones (Australia). Australian Matt Campbell gave Porsche its first major pole position at Mount Panorama with a stunning lap in the Top 10 Shootout for the 2020 Bathurst 12 Hour in his Absolute Racing 911 GT3 R at the opening round of this year’s Intercontinental GT Challenge on 2 February 2020.

Porsche raced over the finish line for a one-two in the Pro-Am class with Grove Racing ahead of the NED Racing Team. Altogether five 911 racers finished in the top 11 after a race peppered with safety car periods; three Porsches were on the same finishing lap as the outright winner, a Bentley Continental.

Grove Racing claimed first place in the Pro-Am class with Australians Stephen Grove, Brenton Grove and Ben Barker (Great Britain). The Porsche NED Racing Team secured second in the category.

Last year’s winners, EBM, with Porsche works driver New Zealander Earl Bamber, shared driving duties with Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) and Australian Craig Lowndes.

Absolute Racing campaigned two vehicles with Porsche works driver Matt Campbell (Australia) and Frenchmen Mathieu Jaminet and Patrick Pilet.

Porsche works driver Dirk Werner (Germany) and Porsche Young Professional Thomas Preining (Austria) teamed up with Matteo Cairoli (Italy).

Round two of the Intercontinental GT Challenge will be held at Spa in Belgium from 23 to 26 July; the most important championship for GT3 sports cars will be contested at the legendary 24-hour race in Belgium’s Ardennes region. •

Porsche Centre Brighton Gala Opening

Porsche Centre Brighton officially opened its newly expanded dealership in early December 2019, more than doubling its original footprint.

We extended an invitation to all our customers to join us on the evening to sample a selection of delicious food and wine, be entertained by Deborah Conway, and view an extraordinary selection of retro vehicles.

PM Group CEO Robert Gattereder officially opened the event, launching the new Cayenne Coupé on the evening. More than 300 guests joined the celebrations.