Porsche Carrera Cup Australia

Adelaide Street Circuit

Traditionally, the Adelaide 500 was always a fantastic start to our racing season, however this time it was to host the final round of the 2023 championship.

After the former South Australian government cancelled the event in 2021, many were fearful the event was going to become just a fond memory. Fortunately with a change of government and a forward thinking new premier, this awesome event was bought back to life and we were all looking forward to it.

Last time we raced here was 2020 and we had both Pro and Pro-Am poles with Cooper Murray and Tim Miles, plus Cooper went on to clean sweep the round with 3 dominant wins before the pandemic shut the season down.

This year we were rolling in to town with a 21 point championship lead for Jackson and momentum for Bayley coming off his first round win at Surfers Paradise. Christian and Ryder were also highly motivated to finish their 2023 campaigns as strongly as possible, while this this was going to sadly be the last race weekend for Tim in Carrera cup after 10 years racing Porsches for MR.

McElrea Racing drivers on the podium at Adelaide Street Circuit 2023
McElrea Racing crew at Adelaide Street Circuit 2023
Jackson Walls

Jackson Walls #11

Pro, Michelin Junior
Race Engineer
Louis Kapitsas
#1 Mechanic
Lewis Dickerson
QUAL
P8
R1
3
R2
4
R3
DNF
Rnd
6th
Jackson Walls #11 racing at Adelaide Street Circuit 2023
Jackson Walls #11 racing at Adelaide Street Circuit 2023
Jackson Walls #11 racing at Adelaide Street Circuit 2023
Jackson Walls #11 racing at Adelaide Street Circuit 2023
Bayley Hall

Bayley Hall #28

Pro, Michelin Junior
Race Engineer
Louis Kapitsas
#1 Mechanic
Rob Clark
QUAL
P5
R1
11
R2
10
R3
4
Rnd
9th
Bayley Hall #28 racing at Adelaide Street Circuit 2023
Bayley Hall #28 racing at Adelaide Street Circuit 2023
Bayley Hall #28 racing at Adelaide Street Circuit 2023
Ryder Quinn

Ryder Quinn #101

Pro, Michelin Junior
Race Engineer
Hayden Morris
#1 Mechanic
Donny Kington
QUAL
P11
R1
5
R2
6
R3
DNF
Rnd
10th
Ryder Quinn #101 racing at Adelaide Street Circuit 2023
Ryder Quinn #101 racing at Adelaide Street Circuit 2023
Ryder Quinn #101 racing at Adelaide Street Circuit 2023
Christian Pancione

Christian Pancione #76

Pro, Michelin Junior
Race Engineer
Leigh Geyer
#1 Mechanic
Marc Jones
QUAL
P10
R1
7
R2
12
R3
DNF
Rnd
12th
Christian Pancione #76 racing at Adelaide Street Circuit 2023
Christian Pancione #76 racing at Adelaide Street Circuit 2023
Christian Pancione #76 racing at Adelaide Street Circuit 2023
Christian Pancione #76
Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Round 8 @Adelaide Street Circuit 2023
Tim Miles

Tim Miles #7

Pro-Am
Race Engineer
Hayden Morris
#1 Mechanic
Stewart Notley-Smith
QUAL
P6
R1
4
R2
4
R3
6
Rnd
5th
Tim Miles #7 racing at Adelaide Street Circuit 2023
Tim Miles #7 racing at Adelaide Street Circuit 2023
Tim Miles #7 racing at Adelaide Street Circuit 2023
Tim Miles 'Pro-Am' #7
Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Round 8 @Adelaide Street Circuit 2023

Summary

Huge congratulations to Jackson taking 2nd in Pro class for the 2023 championship. After the first two races of the weekend, the championship title had come down to a straight shootout between Jackson and Callum Hedge whereby whoever finished ahead in race 3 was going to be champion. Unfortunately he ended up in the wall at turn 1 after the 3 of the top 4 cars had bounced over the notorious Senna chicane but Jackson’s left rear tyre came off the rim when he landed which pitched him into the wall. To add insult to injury both Ryder and Christian were hit from behind as the field checked up to avoid the carnage, which sent both of their cars into the wall with Jackson.

Until the disastrous third race, Ryder had two great races with two personal best Carrera Cup results running 5th and 6th after qualifying 11th. Christian had a strong race 1 going from 10th to 7th but in race 2 he had an off lap on 1 which put him to the back of the field before a 4-lap safety car period cost him the opportunity to move forward.

After getting turned around in race 1 Bayley broke the Carrera Cup lap record three times and forged his way to 4th from 10th in race 3 which is proof that he will be a championship contender in 2024.

This was the last race weekend for the 2023 season and our last with Tim for a while so we wish him all the best with his future racing journey.

With our expansion to Carrera Cup North America and running 5 cars in both the Australian Carrera Cup and Michelin Sprint Challenge championships, we really need to acknowledge and appreciate the incredible effort, energy, passion, attention to detail and amazing comradery of the awesome MR crew. And we sincerely thank our drivers, their families, sponsors and supporters for their loyalty and effort during 2023. See you at the track in 2024!

McElrea Racing having fun at Adelaide Street Circuit 2023