A productive test day at The Bend Motorsport Park last week has given GWR’s father and son Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup duo of Indiran and Duvashen Padayachee optimism heading into this weekend’s sixth round of the series.
The day included a mixture of wet and dry weather conditions, with the team and drivers taking the opportunity to experiment with car setups and driving techniques.
It was also a valuable chance for both drivers to reacquaint themselves with the newest permanent circuit in the country, and in Duvashen’s case, complete his first laps around the track in a Carrera Cup car.
“It’s a great track, and it’s a lot less dusty than when I drove there last year in the GT car,” Duvashen said.
“It reminds me a lot of Phillip Island after it was resurfaced, but it’s even more technical – there’s a real mixture of corners and quite a few passing opportunities.
“During the test day, we were able to complete laps in both wet and dry conditions, which will be a benefit if it rains this weekend.
“Along with (GWR technical partner) Cameron Hill, we were experimenting with different setups across the cars, and we gained some very useful data and setup knowledge.”
Padayachee says qualifying will again be a particular area of focus.
“Our race pace all year has been very strong; it’s been good enough to be right near the front of the field. The main thing we need to improve is qualifying, to ensure we’re not buried in the pack. With these cars so evenly matched, it’s very difficult to overtake, although The Bend has more passing opportunities than some other tracks we’ve been to.
“Dad is enjoying the track as well and was improving his times at the test day, so he’ll be looking to mix it with the other Pro-Am runners.”
The Carrera Cup action commences with a pair of practice sessions on Friday.
Carrera Cup Round 6 Schedule
Friday, 23 August
10:00 – Practice 1 (25 min)
14:30 – Practice 2 (25 min)
Saturday, 24 August
10:55 – Qualifying (20 min)
14:15 – Race 1 (10 laps)
Sunday, 25 August
9:50 – Race 2 (21 laps)
12:30 – Race 3 (11 laps)
TV Coverage
Practice 2, qualifying and all three races will be shown live on Fox Sports 506 and streamed on Kayo Sports.
