The pair head into a mid-season break holding commanding leads in their respective title battles thanks to imperious weekends at Sydney Motorsport Park that saw Jones take pole and three wins in Equity-One Pro, and Flack achieve the same in SP Tools Pro-Am.

Jones led home Dylan O'Keeffe and David Russell in the Pro class, while Flack was joined on the Pro-Am podium by second-placed Rodney Jane and Matt Belford.

The Sydney event was a spectacular affair for Australia’s top one-make series which included the first championship night race in two decades, held on Saturday night and won by Harri Jones.

With a two-month break prior to the next round at Sandown, Jones' championship lead provisionally sits at 145 points, with Jackson Walls second and Russell third, just nine points further back.

Adrian Flack leads Matt Slavin and Rodney Jane in the Pro-Am class, though drivers will need to drop their worst round of the year prior to the end of the season, with only 7 of the 8 rounds counting.

Ready for battle: The Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia formation grid in Sydney

Race 1

The Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia night race has gone to Harri Jones in a commanding victory under the Sydney lights on Saturday night. 

Jones led home Dylan O'Keeffe and David Russell in a lights-to-flag performance to take Equity-One Pro, while non-finishes for Dale Wood and Jackson Walls could prove costly to their title hopes.

In SP Tools Pro-Am, Adrian Flack continued his winning ways, leading home Rodney Jane and Matt Belford in an action-packed battle.

In cold conditions, Jones made the best of the starts and charged his way to an early lead over O'Keeffe.

Walls lost ground early, while Fabian Coulthard was bumped wide on the exit of turn two, causing the BWT car to tumble down the order. It was in that opening exchange that Dale Wood struck issues in his Connected Spaces entry, damage to the left front corner of his car forcing him to the lane and out of the race.

As things settled down, Jones pulled away from O'Keeffe and Russell, who was holding off Jackson Walls and Marco Giltrap in a fight for third.

Walls wouldn't remain there for long, however, the Objective Racing car slowly slipping down the order with what was later diagnosed as a slowly deflating Michelin tyre - thought to be from contact early in the race.

Adrian Flack in full flight

The Sydneysider would drop to eighth position before the tyre finally ran out of pressure, forcing him off at Turn one at high speed with two laps remaining. That incident brought out the Safety Car, under which the race would finish.

Walls was unharmed after the car made contact with the tyre barriers at turn one, however was forced out of the race.

The Safety Car safely delivered Jones his sixth win of the season and an extended championship lead, with O'Keeffe second and Russell third.

Marco Giltrap finished fourth, his best ever result in his rookie Carrera Cup season, and David Wall fifth at his home circuit. Behind them there were stories of progress through the field, including Ryder Quinn who grabbed sixth position and Angelo Mouzouris seventh.

Bayley Hall and Glen Wood were next, followed home by Garth Tander who climbed 15 positions after starting at the back of the field following his early collision in qualifying with Marcos Flack.

The Sydney event was a spectacular affair for Australia’s top one-make series.

Flack was another to storm though the field, rebounding from a stall at the start to finish in 15th position, from 26th.

In SP Tools Pro-Am Adrian Flack won for the ninth consecutive time, however he had to fight for it after scrapping with several contenders throughout the race.

The Agas National / EBM driver had climbed as high as 13th on the opening lap and ultimately crossed the line 18th to take the Pro-Am win and extend his already considerable championship lead.

Rodney Jane chased Flack for second position prior to the race-halting Safety Car and finished in the same position, while Matt Belford celebrated his 50th Carrera Cup race start with third in class - ahead of Stephen Grove, on his first Carrera Cup start in two years.

Harri Jones won race 1

Race 2 (Endurance Cup) 

Harri Jones posted another emphatic performance to claim his second straight Enduro Cup win on Sunday morning at Sydney Motorsport Park. 

As he did in race one, Jones nailed the start and used supreme cold tyre pace to build his lead over a racy Jackson Walls early and was never headed from there.

Walls chased hard throughout the 45-minute encounter, the pair trading quickest laps and never split by more than three seconds – in turn, finishing 10 seconds ahead of third-placed Coulthard.

The BWT driver had a racy affair, slipping past Dylan O’Keeffe mid-race following a lengthy battle to secure his first top three finish since the Gold Coast last year. With O’Keeffe settling for fourth, David Russell finished fifth and Marco Giltrap sixth – the pair having battled for much of the race.

Behind them were challenging tales for some, Bayley Hall crossing the line just behind Giltrap before a five second penalty relegated him to 11th in the final standings. Tom McLennan (18th) and Garth Tander (17th) were also recipients of a track limits penalty.

Dale Wood, David Wall, Nash Morris and Angelo Mouzouris completed the top-10 in the enduro cup affair.

Adrian Flack secured his eleventh straight SP Tools Pro-Am class win, once again mixing it with the Equity-One Pro runners en route to 19th outright.

The victory was the 37th of his career, which pulled him clear of Stephen Grove in the all-time Pro-Am winners list – Flack now only trailing three-time class champion Max Twigg (48 wins) in the all-time leaderboard.

While Flack ran away in front, a furious battle was fought for second, third and fourth: Matt Belford fighting off Matt Slavin by just one-tenth of a second – with Rodney Jane right behind them with the trio split by just 0.4 seconds as the line.

Close combat: The field in Race 2

Race 3

Jones completed his Sydney sweep with another lights-to-flag victory ahead of Dylan O'Keeffe in Race 3 at Sydney Motorsport Park, however there was plenty of action in his wake. 

The two leaders finished well ahead of the chasing pack, which included a busy three-car battle for the final spot in the top three that at the line went to Fabian Coulthard.

The Kiwi had spent much of the race first in a battle with Marco Giltrap and then with David Russell and had passed the TekworkX driver to cross the line in third - however a five-second penalty for a driving infringement, related to the battle with Giltrap, ultimately saw the BWT Porsche drop to sixth in the final standings.

That returned Russell to the top three with Jackson Walls fourth and Garth Tander a stunning fifth.

The Bathurst winner started 15th but scythed his way through the field with better condition tyres than those around him, catching the battling Russell and Walls' in the race's closing stages.

Angelo Mouzouris, Marco Giltrap, Bayley Hall and Ryder Quinn completed the top-10, which included plenty of hard battles through the field.

Drama on the opening lap for Marcos Flack and Nick McBride dropped them down the order - the former recovering to 14th position.

Flack again won the SP Tools Pro-Am class ahead of Jane and Matt Belford, which also replicated the overall round podium.

Podium celebrations

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Images: Mark Horsburgh
 

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