THE FOUR antipodean drivers contesting the opening round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup were each able to improve on their starting positions in the first race of the 10-round championship, held at the Catalunya circuit in Spain on Sunday. 

In a race dominated from lights-to-flag by Porsche Junior, Frenchman Julien Andlauer, Jaxon Evans improved two spots from his starting position to finish eighth on his Supercup debut.

Joey Mawson ran as high as 10th but ultimately finished one spot further back in the first of three Team Australia entries, another to improve two spots from his starting positions.

In Pro-Am, Stephen Grove and Marc Cini finished 4th and 5th respectively, each improving one spot from their grid positions.

The 14-lap race was dominated by Andlauer, who started from pole and led every lap en route to victory.

Evans’ made an impressive start and climbed to spots on the opening lap, gaining another position to run seventh a lap later when Dylan Periera struck dramas.

In a close battle pack headed by Tio Ellinas, Evans lost seventh to Al Faisal Al Zubair a lap later to settle into eighth.

A one-lap Safety Car mid-race saw little change in the order with Evans running in close company with Al Zibair to the line to finish first of the three entries from Fach Auto Tech – jumping teammate Florian Latorre who had qualified one spot in front of Evans on Saturday.

Starting 13th, Mawson was another big mover before the lap five Safety Car, running 11th when the race was briefly paused. He gained one spot on the restart, however was soon re-passed and finished just behind fellow Supercup rookie, Max van Splunteren.

In the ProAm battle, consistent races from Grove and Cini saw them each improve on their starting positions.

Grove immediately climbed to 23rd and remained their for the duration, while Cini spent some time behind his teammate mid-race before ultimately dropping to finish 25th after 14-laps.

They finished fourth and fifth in ProAm, respectively, to kickstart their season with a strong haul of points.

The next round of the Porsche Supercup will feature at the iconic Monaco Grand Prix in Monte Carlo on May 23-24.

Jaxon Evans, however, will race once again next weekend with the second round of Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland to be staged at the Autodrom Most in the Czech Republic.

With the opening round of the German championship held one week ago, it will make for a stretch of four-straight rounds for the reigning Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup Australia Champion.