GWR Australia’s Porsche operations are literally spanning the entire Australian continent in the space of a week.
On the weekend, most of the crew were at Phillip Island, where they were occupied with running Cameron Crick and Rob Woods in GT3 Cup Challenge. At the same moment, a GWR transporter was leaving the team’s Sydney base, bound for Darwin’s Hidden Valley circuit and with some valuable Carrera Cup cars as cargo.
One of those cars will be driven by Duvashen Padayachee, who is itching to get back behind the wheel after two months since the previous round.
Due to business commitments, Padayachee’s father Indiran has been ruled out of the driver’s seat this weekend, but his car has still travelled north; at the completion of the Darwin event, both cars will be transported directly to Townsville for the next round in July.
“It’s a shame my dad can’t race this weekend, but I’ll look at the silver lining which is that the team’s entire focus will be on me and my car,” Padayachee said.
“After such a big break, I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel. We tested at Wakefield Park last week, and I feel like we made some good gains especially in terms of driving technique, which I’m looking forward to putting into practice at the Hidden Valley circuit.”
Typically, the hot Darwin weather produces its own challenges, but Padayachee will be keeping his cool.
“In the Adelaide round at the start of the year, we were dealing with some of the hottest temperatures we had ever experienced, but I ran a new cool suit system which worked really well, and made the high cabin temperature a lot more bearable.
“On Saturday, we have a 35-lap race, which will be one of the most physically demanding of the year, so I’ll definitely be thankful to have a bit of refrigeration!”
Padayachee will hit the track for a pair of practice sessions on Friday, and the GWR team will also provide technical assistance for the satellite CHE Racing entry of Cameron Hill.
Carrera Cup Round 4 Schedule
Australian Central Time
Friday, 14 June
9:20 – Practice 1 (25 min)
12:30 – Practice 2 (25 min)
Saturday, 15 June
11:35 – Qualifying (20 min)
14:45 – Race 1 (35 laps)
Sunday, 16 June
10:00 – Race 2 (18 laps)
12:20 – Race 3 (18 laps)
