Being first at first corner the first priority for Campbell
“GETTING to turn one first is going to be huge.”
That’s how young gun Matt Campbell sees it as he pushes to secure the Porsche Carrera Cup crown.
Having arrived on the Coast with a 124.5-point lead over Alex Davison, the 21-year-old stepped up in the best possible fashion by taking his seventh straight pole position yesterday.
It puts him in the box seat to extend his dominance on the Gold Coast, where he took a clean-sweep last year. Davison will start third, one spot behind Michael Almond.
“The main thing is we have got a straight car after the three sessions,” Campbell said, before explaining how import- ant it is to start in clear air.
“Around here it’s a little bit more critical again obviously not only because it’s a street circuit and very hard to pass but also it’s a staggered grid so you just gain that small advantage again.”
The Warwick product is on double duties this weekend, also competing in Supercars as co-driver to Nissan’s Todd Kelly.
Campbell was 18th in the co-driver practice session yesterday.
The weekends of Carrera drivers Shane Smollen and Scott Taylor came to an abrupt end courtesy of incidents in separate practice sessions.
Taylor’s crash at the turn one chicane also collected an unfortunate Nick McBride, whose car was not able to be repaired in time for qualifying.