Darwin Carrera Cup Review

Another great weekend in the books! We flew home from Darwin with a race win, a pair of second place finishes and a big smile.

After testing at Hidden Valley in April, we all had a good feeling that our car would be strong over the weekend, and it didn’t disappoint. Our pace was fast the second the car hit the circuit during practice on Friday, this carried all the way through the weekend seeing us Qualify on the front row just 0.036 seconds off Pole and ultimately my teammate Christian Pancione came away from the weekend with the circuit lap record.

The Pro field in Qualifying was super competitive, just half a second covering the 17 cars!! Going into the races we knew the starts would be critical due to the long run down the straight into Turn 1. In Race 1, the track temp was really hot (probably the warmest conditions these new GT3 Cup Cars have experienced worldwide). With this in mind, it didn’t take much to bring the tyres up to temperature and off the start my car hooked up a little too well… the engine rpm dropped really low as I tried to get off the line, but after a second dip at the clutch we recovered to have a half decent start. Most importantly, it was the best start out of the cars around me, so we led into Turn 1. With 18 laps in front of us and a stacked field behind, all we had to do was minimise our mistakes and maximise our performance over each lap. We did exactly that and crossed the line first to take our 4th win of the season.

Start off Pole for Race 2, Dale Wood and I had an even start into Turn 1. After a bit of contact under brakes, Woody had a run up the inside at the midpoint of the corner. I tried to hang on to the lead but once he got his nose in front the corner was his. Nevertheless we put our head down to keep the pressure on him and position ourselves to make a move. Unfortunately, opportunities to retake the lead were slim during that race and we had to settle for second place.

In Race 3 we were starting on the clean side of the track and we knew our car was fast in the afternoon heat. We had a great start and was half a car length in front going into Turn 1, but unfortunately we were on the outside of the corner and didn’t have room to cut across to take control. I tried the undercut at the midpoint of the corner and almost made it work, but almost wasn’t good enough! On the exit of Turn 1 we slipped into second place and again we just had to reset and focus on getting through. A few opportunities came our way and we kept the pressure on each lap of the race, but ultimately we crossed the line P2 to take second place for the round as well.

As much as I was a little disappointed we didn’t claim the Round Win over the weekend, it was still very successful for myself and the whole team. There are heaps of positives to take away, and we are in a great place leading into Round 4 in Townsville. Townsville is one of my favourite venues and it’s the first street circuit of the year. Best thing is we only have to wait 2 and a half weeks to get back on track!!

Thank you to everyone that sent me messages over the weekend and thank you to the McElrea team and all of my Partners for their amazing support.

Cheers,
Harri

STATS

Qualifying - 2nd
Race 1 - 1st
Race 2 - 2nd
Race 3 - 2nd

After Round 3 of 8

Championship Position - 1st
Michelin Junior Championship Pos. - 1st

Pictures from the weekend in Gallery.

Harri Jones22 June 2022