INTERNATIONAL import Harry King has delivered EMA Motorsport exactly what they wanted when they drafted him into their second seat for this weekend’s Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia round at Mount Panorama.
The 22-year-old English ace, a three-time winner in Porsche Supercup this year, got the jump from second on the grid and led all the way under pressure from reigning Aussie champion Harri Jones to claim a Bathurst win on debut in a 15-lap affair today at Mount Panorama.
It was the first win for EMA Motorsport in Carrera Cup and makes King the seventh different winner in the Equity-One Professional class from 15 races this season.
The race had action from start to finish, with King getting the jump from second on the grid and Harri Jones slow away from pole.
There was drama behind as a slow-starting David Wall was clipped by Bayley Hall on the start line, both cars immediately out of the race.
A frenetic start saw King disappear out in front but furious racing behind as Jones battled to stay in touch with the leaders as he was attacked from all sides.
Jackson Walls made up four spots on the opening lap while Max Vidau found himself dropping down the order.
Jones’ quickly got back to second position and set out in pursuit of King, who built a two second margin on the opening lap.
He set a new lap record (2m05.8363s) on the sixth lap of the race and closed to within half a second of the leader, though was unable to work his way past.
The pair pulled a large margin over the field as they battled for the lead with King ultimately sneaking home to win by half a second, with Jones’ second.
Chris van der Drift finished third on his first Aussie Carrera Cup start having spent the entire race battling for the final spot in the top three with Dylan O’Keeffe.
O’Keeffe had led the battle – that included Fabian Coulthard and Jackson Walls – for most of the race, with the pair swapping spots briefly at the Chase prior to van der Drift finally asserting himself two laps from home.
Coulthard finished fifth and Jackson Walls sixth in an important drive for his championship hopes with leader Callum Hedge away.
David Russell was next, with Dale Wood, Garnet Patterson and an ailing Max Vidau finishing 10th.
The field returns tomorrow afternoon for race two, a 9-lap sprint set for 3:15pm local time.
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