The father-and-son duo of Indiran and Duvashen Padayachee will spearhead GWR Australia’s 2019 Porsche Carrera Cup campaign, starting with this weekend’s opening round at the Superloop Adelaide 500.
Indiran, a long-time Porsche enthusiast and a competitor in every level of Porsche competition from state Production Sports, through to national GT3 Cup Challenge and Carrera Cup, is looking forward to racing side-by-side with his son.
“We’ve done the Bathurst 12 Hour together in the same car, and there have been occasional races where we’ve been in different cars, but we’re looking forward to racing together for a full season,” Indiran said.
Meanwhile, Duvashen is set for his fifth season in Carrera Cup, having previously competed in the 2013-16 seasons with a best overall result of eighth in his rookie year.
After a few pre-season test days in the latest-generation Porsche GT3 Cup car, the junior Padayachee said he felt immediately at home.
“To be honest, the new car feels very similar to the previous versions in terms of handling – the biggest difference is the extra low-end power with the 4.0 Litre engine,” Duvashen said.
“Carrera Cup has always been competitive, but now it’s the most professional it has ever been and it’s definitely one of the premier support classes on the Supercars program.”
While he might have missed the last two Carrera Cup seasons, Padayachee has accumulated valuable seat time in other categories and events, such as the Australian GT Championship and Bathurst 12 Hour, where he finished fourth outright in 2017, driving a Porsche with John Martin and Liam Talbot.
“It was incredible to finish so high up in the 12 Hour, but our mentality that day was to avoid mistakes and stay out of trouble – with such a competitive Carrera Cup field, I think that sort of approach will serve me well this season,” Duvashen said.
With temperatures likely to climb as high as 40 degrees this weekend, driver fitness is expected to play a factor, and Duvashen will be running a cool suit for the first time.
“Fortunately, our races aren’t too long this weekend but with those sorts of temperatures, we’ll definitely be baking inside our cars – hopefully the cool suit makes it a bit more bearable,” Duvashen said.
The Carrera Cup event will be just one aspect of a very busy weekend for GWR Australia, the Sydney-based operation also campaigning three cars in the second round of Radical Australia Cup (see separate release).
The Porsche Carrera Cup cars hit the track for practice on Thursday.
Porsche Carrera Cup – Round 1 Schedule
Thursday, 28 February
10:50 – Practice 1 (20 min)
15:00 – Practice 2 (20 min)
Friday, 1 March
10:30 – Qualifying (20 min)
16:20 – Race 1 (15 laps)
Saturday, 2 March
15:00 – Race 2 (10 laps)
Sunday, 3 March
13:30 – Race 3 (10 laps)
