Australian Grand Prix Review

Image - Insyde Media

The 2022 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix set a new record as the biggest weekend sporting event in Australian history!! Over 419k spectators came through the gates to enjoy the entertainment and I am so stoked to have been part of the show.

Porsche Carrera Cup this year has an absolutely stacked field of 31 drivers all in brand new Porsche 992 Cup Cars. I had a tricky start to the weekend struggling with car setup and 12th was the best I could manage in Qualifying. Moving into the races I knew I had to be aggressive in order to move through the field and that’s exactly what we did.

In Race 1 we had a good start, but got squeezed on the exit of turn 2 and had to get on the anchors to avoid the wall. This saw me drop to 15th but we got our head down and focused on moving up the order one car at a time. There were a couple of safety cars that helped with bunching the field up and we capitalized on the restarts. On the last lap of the race we passed 4 cars and crossed the line P7 which I was quite happy with.

Starting P7 for Race 2, we were in a far better position to move up the order and fight for some podiums. We had another great start moving into P6 off the line. After another couple of safety car interventions, we crossed the line P4 and now right in the hunt for the win in Race 3.

Still struggling with outright pace, I knew it was going to be tricky to fight with the top three drivers. However, our starts all weekend had been great and Race 3 was no exception. We got a blinder and jumped into P2 off the line. The pressure from behind was relentless and we were able to hold them off for most of the race. However, we slipped into P3 with a couple of laps to go and didn’t have the pace to fight back.

With one race left for the weekend, we knew we needed to do something big to the car to help our pace. The team did an amazing job with setup and on Sunday morning I had a rocket. Starting P3, we had another ripper start and moved straight into the lead of the race. For the first time all weekend I had full confidence in the car underneath me and we were perfectly positioned to claim another Carrera Cup Race win. I put my head down, focused on executing each lap and eventually we crossed the line P1 in front of a massive AGP crowd.

All in all, I am stoked with the weekend. We got some decent results, but more importantly we worked so well as a team to turn the car around and move forward each race. I am full of confidence leading into round 2. We had so many breakthroughs with this new car and lots of things to think about in the lead up to Winton in May.

As always, thank you to all of my sponsors, supporters and team for getting me on track this weekend. It was so awesome to see such a big crew from Hastings Deering and MacKellar Group at the track. Also thank you to everyone that came to say hi over the course of the weekend. It was definitely one to remember!!

Cheers,
Harri

STATS

Qualifying - 12th
Race 1 - 7th
Race 2 - 4th
Race 3 - 3rd
Race 4 - 1st

After Round 1 of 8

Championship Position - 4th
Michelin Junior Championship Pos. - 2nd

Pictures from the weekend in Gallery.