Duvashen Padayachee has secured a top 10 finish in his first season with GWR Australia in the Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup, despite an unfortunate end to the final round of the series at the Gold Coast 600 today.
Padayachee had been making stellar progress all weekend – after qualifying 17th, he gained seven places in Race 1 to finish 10th, and made up another three spots in Race 2 to finish seventh.
Sadly, Padayachee was collected by another driver at Turn 11 in the last race, the resulting damage forcing him into the pits for an unscheduled stop and relegating him to 19th at the chequered flag.
“It really was a shame to finish the weekend like that, because it had been going so well,” Padayachee said.
“I struggled in qualifying, but we made some positive changes for Race 1 and it was a vast improvement.
“Race 2 was even better again, and I was looking forward to keeping my run of top-10 Gold Coast results alive in Race 3, but it wasn’t to be.”
Padayachee finished 10th in the final Carrera Cup standings, and thanked the GWR team for their efforts throughout the year.
“It’s been a good first season driving for GWR, we’ve learned a lot about the car and about my driving,” he said.
“I feel like our biggest strength was my race pace – we were usually able to gain quite a few places from qualifying, and I had some good battles at each event.”
The senior member of the Padayachee clan, Indiran continued his trend of meteoric lap time improvements over the course of the weekend.
Padayachee recorded his best-ever lap of the Gold Coast circuit in qualifying, and continued to increase his pace in the races, eventually punching out his personal-best time in Race 3 despite a tangle with another car in the first corner.
“It’s been another enjoyable weekend, and overall a really good season,” Indiran said.
“Every round, Garth and the engineers have given me a target lap-time, which has normally been my best time from previous seasons.
“I’ve been reaching the target time earlier and earlier in the weekend, driving faster than I ever have, and it’s been a lot of fun.
“This weekend, I was able to battle against some other drivers, which was satisfying.”
While the 2019 Carrera Cup season may be over, GWR still has several events left on the motorsport calendar, including the final Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge round at The Bend Motorsport Park, 15-17 November.
