Garth Walden Racing’s two Porsche entries for the NSW Prod Sport/Super GT 4 Hour completed three practice sessions today in preparation for qualifying and the race tomorrow. Today’s sessions are the only practice the GWR entries will get, with their next track session being qualifying on Saturday morning, it also means no one will experience night-time conditions until the race itself.

Practice 1 for the day went off without a hitch, with both sides of the garage electing to run just one driver in the session, with Duvashen Padayachee and Garth Walden taking to the track. In Practice 2 the team switched drivers for their cars, and Duvashen made way for his dad Indiran Padayachee while Walden stepped aside for Michael Sheargold.

“What we experienced on track just then is going to be completely different to what we get tomorrow night. The track will be much cooler, which plays a huge role in the grip level on track. The good news is it will be the same playing field for everyone,” said Duvashen.

“I was just looking to get comfortable in the car that session, I’m running some extra equipment this weekend just for comfort. Things like a cool suit and a helmet fan, as I’ve said in the past these will be the longest stints I’ve ever had in a car before,” said Sheargold.

Practice 3 saw Indiran and Sheargold remain in the car, experiencing conditions in cooler temps not to far away from what is expected at race start tomorrow. The GWR pair used the time productively, running a setup similar to what they’ll use in the race, as opposed to qualifying which will be in hotter conditions. “Today has been very good for us, across both cars. In Practice 1 both Duvashen and myself (Walden) got re acclimatised as it’s been a little while between race meetings, we’ve had test days obviously but there’s always a different feel to a race meet,” said Walden.

“Indiran and Sheargold had the rest of the day to get themselves comfortable in the car, and then in that final practice session we elected to do a full race simulation. We filled the tank up and they got to feel how the car handles with all that extra weight and it’s all valuable information for the race tomorrow,” concluded Walden.

NSW Prod Sport/Super GT Australia will have Qualifying tomorrow followed by a top 10 shootout and then the 4 Hour endurance race.

NSW Prod Sport/Super GT Saturday Schedule:
Qualifying: 9:32am – 9:52am
Top 10 Shootout: 1:36pm – 2:11pm
Race: 4:45pm – 8:47pm