GOLDEN PORSCHE CHAMPIONSHIP CHANCE FOR JONES AT GC

MEDIA RELEASE/Porsche Motorsport Australia – Photos: Velocity Magazine (Bathurst)

– Harri Jones needs to leave Surfers Paradise with a 180-point lead to wrap up 2026 championship.
– Jake Santalucia back on the grid after heavy Bathurst crash.
– Sprint format back in action for Gold Coast.

Porsche Equity-One Carrera Cup Australia return to the streets of Surfers Paradise this weekend for the penultimate round of the 2026 season.

A field of 25 are assembled for the 20th visit to the Gold Coast street circuit, 16 in Pro and 9 in Pro-Am.

No one on the grid is a former round winner at Surfers Paradise, with Bayley Hall the most successful round winner at the venue having won the last three years.

First chance for Jones to wrap up 2026 title

This weekend’s round is the first chance for Harri Jones to clinch the 2026 championship.

The McElrea Racing driver is currently 235 points ahead of David Russell in the Pro championship.

With the last two rounds being sprint events with a maximum of 360 points remaining, if Jones leaves the Gold Coast with a 180-point lead in the championship, he will wrap up the title with a round to go.

Jones has seven race wins already this season and will be chasing his third Carrera Cup Australia title to go with his wins in 2022 and 2024.

The Pro-Am title fight is a lot closer, with Matt Belford leading Matt Slavin by 47 points with Jacque Jarjo a further two points back.

Santalucia back after Bathurst shunt

Wall Racing’s Jake Santalucia is back on the Porsche Equity-One Carrera Cup Australia grid this weekend after his heavy shunt in Qualifying at Mount Panorama.

Santalucia is in a different chassis this weekend as the team continue to assess if the chassis he drove at Bathurst is repairable.

Santalucia claimed his first career pole at Bathurst and will be looking to back that up on the Gold Coast this weekend.

Tim Farrell also returns to make his second Carrera Cup Australia start, after making his championship debut at Queensland Raceway in August.

2025 Gold Coast

It was a bruising weekend on the Gold Coast last year as race one was declared a ‘non-event’ following a nine-car accident on lap two.

Several cars were repaired overnight as Hall went on to win the two Sunday races and extend his winning streak at the venue to seven.

Belford would go on to claim the two Pro-Am race wins and therefore the round ahead of Stephen Grove and Rodney Jane.

Weekend format

It is a sprint weekend on the Gold Coast, meaning three races with two 25-minute races and a 30-minute race – the longer of the three races happening on Sunday morning.

There will be two practice sessions on Friday before a Qualifying session on Saturday morning.

The fastest laps from qualifying will set the grid for race one, with the second fastest laps forming the grid for race two, while grid positions for race three will be based off round points accumulated from races one and two.

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