GWR Australia has unveiled its driver line-up for the 2023 Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia Championship, with familiar faces Dylan O’Keeffe and Indiran Padayachee to be joined by a new name in Dean Cook.
O’Keeffe will compete in the Pro class, with Padayachee and Cook to contest the Pro-Am division. While Cook is a fresh face at GWR, he has a wealth of Carrera Cup experience and has established himself as a Pro-Am front-runner, finishing equal first on points in 2022 and only missing the title on a countback.
Last season was also a fruitful one for O’Keeffe, who achieved some significant Carrera Cup milestones for GWR including the team’s maiden pole position, race win and round podium, on his way to fourth in the standings.
Meanwhile, Indiran Padayachee has been a long-time member of the GWR stable and returns to Carrera Cup after focusing on the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge last season.
Walden said all three drivers bring different assets to GWR’s Carrera Cup program, and is expecting them to compete strongly for both the Pro and Pro-Am titles.
“Dylan was in contention for the championship all the way through last season, with qualifying being a particular strength,” Walden said.
“Heading into this season, we’ve identified a couple of areas we need to work on, including cold tyre pace and our performance on higher-speed tracks such as Albert Park and Bathurst. Dylan scored a lot of podiums last year, so we only need to find a few small improvements for him to regularly win races.
“Dean will be a great addition to our team environment – he has a fun personality out of the car, but he’s focused and competitive behind the wheel. Last year he only just missed out on winning the championship, so he will be highly motivated to get the job done this season.
“Indiran races for enjoyment and the satisfaction of personal improvement, and last year in Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge he was scoring his best-ever race results. I think he will surprise some people in the Pro-Am Class and maybe even score a sneaky podium.”
Padyachee’s Type 992 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car will be presented in its familiar Rentcorp livery, while O’Keeffe and Cook’s cars will run identical paint schemes, featuring Dexion as the major sponsor.
All three drivers will also benefit from experienced engineering support. O’Keeffe will be engineered by former Jordan Formula 1 operative Rob Palermo, Padayachee will be overseen by JP Messenger and Cook will be supported by Andrew Collins.
The opening round of the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup takes place at the Australian Grand Prix, 30 March-2 April.
2023 Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia Calendar
Round 1. Australian Grand Prix, 30 March-2 April
Round 2. Hidden Valley, 16-18 June
Round 3. Townsville, 7-9 July
Round 4. The Bend Motorsport Park, 18-20 August
Round 5. Sandown 500, 15-17 September
Round 6. Bathurst 1000, 5-8 October
Round 7. Gold Coast 500, 27-29 October
Round 8. Adelaide 500, 23-26 November
