POLE, VICTORY AND DRAMA - WILLIAMS KEEPS CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD AFTER THRILLER IN SYDNEY
Tyler Greenbury Racing’s Kobi Williams has maintained his Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia championship position lead after a thrilling and action packed round at Sydney Motorsport Park.
The Victorian converted pole position into victory in a dramatic opening race at Round 5 of Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia, holding off TekworkX Motorsport’s Lincoln Taylor and Sonic’s Hayden Haikal in a tense fight to the chequered flag.
Williams made the perfect start from pole, going side-by-side with young Kiwi Hunter Robb through Turn 1 before establishing an early 1.4-second advantage.
Kobi Williams is seen after winning Race 1 in Sydney - pic: Porsche Motorsport Australia
Williams’ Race 1 victory followed an extraordinary qualifying session earlier in the day, where the top four were separated by just 0.0605 seconds, the closest top-four margin in Sprint Challenge history.
Race 3
Freak last lap tyre failure strikes Porsche Sprint Challenge leader
story via Jack Fletcher
Kobi Williams was home free at the commencement of the final lap in Sunday's final Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge race at Sydney Motorsport Park, before a spectacular tyre failure turned his race upside down.Kobi Williams' right rear tyre failed on the last lap while leading Race 3 of Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge in Sydney.
The Tyler Greenbury Racing driver had built a lead of well over 20 seconds as the group behind battled for second position, leading comfortably en route to what would’ve been his sixth victory of the season.
Everything came unstuck, however, on the final lap.
As Williams crossed the control line to commence the final lap of the race, his right rear tyre failed, sending the leader on a wild slide through SMP’s signature sweeping Turn 1.
Williams was able to save it and re-join the track, however his lead was rapidly diminishing as he was forced to limp around the entire 3.91km circuit on three tyres.
Xavier Avramides shot past to take the lead, taking victory by 5.1s over Hayden Haikal, with Ryan Suhle rounding out the top three.
Daniel Quimby worked his way past Williams for fourth, with the three-tyred machine limping across the line in fifth position, such was the enormity of Williams’ earlier advantage.
The spectacular tyre failure was the culmination of a dramatic 45-minute Jim Richards Endurance Trophy race.
Williams got away to a great launch off the line, rocketing away from Lincoln Taylor off the front row.
It was confirmed that Williams had saved his best set of tyres for the final race, while Taylor had used a new set in Race 2 to take a comprehensive win.
By the end of the opening lap, Taylor was back to seventh position, while the battle in the top five was only just starting.
Williams set about building a comfortable gap at the front as Hunter Robb battled an ill-handling car, forced to fend off advances from Quimby and Haikal.
Lap after lap, third through sixth seemed to change as Robb held station in second.
Eventually, Robb’s tyres had seen their best days, and he slowly slipped back through the order, leaving Quimby and Haikal to battle for second place.
Avramides worked his way into the top five past Suhle, and then chaos erupted int he fight for second place in the closing laps.
Haikal forcefully took second place away at Turn 6, but Quimby fought back through the hairpin at Turn 8.
Both cars battled side-by-side on the run down to Turn 9, but each slipped off the road through the final complex, sliding through the gravel and allowing Avramides through to second place.
As this battle raged on for several laps, Williams built his enormous margin at the front, but not before the tyre issue sealed his fate.
Despite an earlier spin, Ruairi Avern was able to claw back through to sixth place, while Taylor and Robb settled for seventh and eighth after a tough race.
Anthony Gilbertson finished ninth outright and took the Pro-Am class victory, enough to comfortably seal the class championship with one round to spare after his 13th win.
Kamal Mrad fought back to 10th after being involved in the spin with Avern.
Despite the tyre failure, Williams still took the overall round honours, and holds the championship lead heading into the final round.
Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge is now finished with its Shannons SpeedSeries appearances for the season, returning in support of the Supercars Championship’s Sandown 500 on November 6-8.
