David Russell has secured his first Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia round win in more than 60 attempts after taking out top honours at Taupo International Motorsport Park. 
 
With the Championship forming part of a bump support bill at the ITM Taupō Super400, Russell ended up winning the round comfortably after taking out the category’s first two races of the weekend, including the first Enduro Cup race of the season on Sunday morning. 
 
A second place to overall event runner-up Jackson Walls in the final outing of the weekend all but sealed the deal for the TekworkX Motorsport star, who has no shortage of event podiums across his decorated career.  
 
The Queenslander’s memorable weekend began with a pole position on Saturday morning, before leading the field from lights out to the chequered flag in the opening race to take out the win over Angelo Mouzouris.


Starting from fourth in the endurance race, Russell avoided a chaotic start to make up a couple of places before eventually overtaking leader Dylan O’Keefe on the fifth lap – a lead he would not relinquish for the remaining 19 laps.

While he wasn’t able to claim the clean sweep of wins after being jumped by Walls on the opening lap of the finale outing and never regaining it back, Russell still enjoyed an almost-perfect weekend and now sits second on the overall standings after two rounds.
 
“It’s a great feeling to come away with the round win,” Russell said.
 
“The AGP was down in the points so we’re looking at the long game but to get a round win is a bonus.
 

“To finally have it is good – we’ve had plenty of wins and podiums but to get the monkey off the back is good and hopefully we can continue to keep rolling with it now. Big thanks to the guys at TekworkX, they’ve given me a great car this weekend and I just had to execute as best I could.
 
“I just face-timed (Rob Woods, team owner) and he’s in great spirits.”
 
Rounding out the podium behind Russell and Walls was Nash Morris, who enjoyed a pair of top three placings on Sunday.
 
In the SP Tools Pro-Am class, Adrian Flack claimed the round victory after the perfect weekend saw him win all three races by 10 seconds or more. 
 
The Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia Championship continues in June with the third round to take place at the Betr Darwin Triple Crown on 14-16 June.