Shannons Ambassador, Dale Wood, was unable to convert his promising pace into results during Round 7 of the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia, hosted at the famed Gold Coast 500 event.
In his previous two Carrera Cup outings at Sandown and Bathurst, Wood added Supercars endurance season co-driving duties with Penrite Racing on top of his Porsche program.
However, for the Gold Coast, it was business as usual as Wood reverted his focus back to racing his #992 Porsche, run by renowned Porsche operation, Earl Bamber Motorsport.
The weekend was a clean sweep for Queenslander Bailey Hall, snatching pole position in qualifying before proceeding to dominate all three races at the picturesque beach-side street circuit.
In the opening two races, Wood featured firmly within the top five and was on track for a top-five finish for the weekend, until an opening-lap DNF in the final race dropped him to P7 overall in the pro-class.
For the 30-minute qualifying session, Wood put his car a respectable P5, but his efforts were twice hampered by untimely Red Flag interruptions.
Hall made the most of track position to score pole position by 0.085s, sharing the front row for Race 1 with Jackson Walls - with Walls announcing in the lead up to the GC500 that he’s secured a Super 2 drive with Triple Eight Race Engineering in 2025.
Race 1 started strong for Wood, as he moved up a single position to P4, although due to the tight and technical layout of the Gold Coast 500, it was difficult to progress further.
The race was won by Hall by 0.600s with Dylan O’Keefe and David Russell rounding out the podium.
Race 2 was a longer 45-minute race and the nominated Jim Richards Endurance Cup competitive outing for the weekend.
Wood started the race in P7, with positions in Race 2 determined by the drivers’ second-fastest lap of qualifying. Wood made a strong start storming to fifth, however again he was unable to progress further due to limited passing opportunities.
Hall crossed the line in the top position, ahead of Russell and championship leader Harri Jones.
Race 3 was another sprint race to round out competitive action for the single-make series, with the same podium results as Race 2, Hall from Russell and Jones.
However, the finale was a race to forget for Wood, as going into Turn 4 he was turned around by a car attempting but failing to pass, clipping the inside wall and causing Wood to spin.
With Wood’s car stranded, another car collided with his, damaging his steering and putting him out of the race and the weekend.
“The streets of the Gold Coast always get me excited to race. It’s a challenging track that really rewards a committed approach, attacking the kerbs and braking hard with the Porsche.” Said Wood
“Qualifying started well, however when I was on my second set of new tires, an untimely red flag hit at the end of my final run, throwing that fast lap into the bin and leaving me in P5.
“Starting Race 2 from P7, we over-pressured the tyres a bit, which cost us some speed toward the end, but I finished in 5th, setting us up well for the final race.
“For Race 3 I started from P4, a tricky position as it’s on the outside, making it hard to get a good line into the Turn 2-3 chicane.
“After being forced to cut the chicane, heading into Turn 4, the car behind me tried to pass on the inside, clipped the wall, and hit me. Causing me to spin, sit stranded and then to be collected by another car in the process.
“This broke my steering, and unfortunately, I couldn’t finish the race.
“We had great speed throughout the weekend but didn’t quite turn it into the results we wanted. Next up is the Adelaide Street race, where our setup should be well-suited, and I’m confident we’ll have a strong showing to close out the year.”
The eighth and final round of the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia championship will visit South Australia for the Vailo Adelaide 500.
Sitting sixth in the championship, Wood has four points-scoring opportunities remaining in 2024, with Jones leading the standings from Russell and O’Keefe.
