MATT Campbell briefly lost his lead in Friday’s opening Carrera Cup Australia round at Mount Panorama but once he got to the front again he never looked back.
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Campbell, who will partner Todd Kelly for Sunday’s Bathurst 1000, extended his thanks to his victory over fellow Supercars co-drivers David Wall and Steven Richards in the nine-lap opener.
It was a great start from pole for Campbell but an even better beginning to the race for other row starter Wall, who took the lead going up Mountain Straight for the first time.
However, it was at that very same spot on the next lap where Campbell regained control of the race.
Campbell began to build up a small break on the rest of the field, which remained steady at around two seconds, leaving Wall and Richards in a fierce duel for the runner-up spot.
That battle behind Campbell allowed him to breathe easier.
“Thankfully I was able to pull a small gap there after I got past Wall and he had pretty close company behind him so that took the pressure off me a little bit. After that I was able to focus on chipping away and just trying to be consistent,” Campbell said.
“It was nice and comfortable out there in the car. It wasn’t moving around or doing anything it wasn’t supposed to so I was … able to stay consistent and that’s what you really want around here.
“The track is quite warm now. It’s heated up a bit since this morning. Obviously lap times have dropped away a bit but there’s a little more rubber down now so it’s not as edgy as this morning.”
Friday win is the fifth for Campbell from his last six starts.
Current Carrera Cup series second place runner Alex Davison managed to improve two spots to finish in fourth place.
Campbell now sits on 916.5 points with Davison on 861.
It was a relatively clean race from the Porsche field with the biggest incident being Tony Bates being spun out by James Abela at Griffins Bend. Both cars were able to continue.
Ash Walsh produced the fastest lap of the race with a time of two minutes and 9.5171 seconds.
Campbell is hopeful that opening race form can carry over for the rest of the weekend’s racing – in both categories.
“It’s a busy weekend for myself but I’m thoroughly enjoying it. It’s a first for me co-driving in Supercars and starting in the 1000. I’m really looking to that on Sunday but also focusing on Carrera Cup because it’s just as much of a priority,” he said.
The second race of the round gets underway from 4.30pm on Saturday.
