Two of Germany’s most prestigious vehicle manufacturers – Porsche and Mercedes Benz – will be represented by GWR Australia at this weekend’s Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships race meeting.

Off the back of consistent results in the opening two rounds of the series, Indiran Padayachee will line up for Round 3 of the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge. Padayachee last competed at the Melbourne venue in last year’s Carrera Cup round and is looking forward to returning to the venue, despite a tough weekend for his son Duvashen at the recent Carrera Cup race meeting.

“I’ve done a fair bit of racing at Sandown over the years, and I’m looking forward to heading back there this weekend and having some fun – it’s been a good start to the year so far,” Padayachee said.

On the Mercedes side of the equation, Michael Sheargold and Garth Walden will contest the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS races in the RAM Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3, which has undergone extensive repair work from damage sustained in May’s Bathurst 12 Hour.

The car was shaken down at Sydney Motorsport Park last week, with both drivers reporting it to be as good as new.

“The car felt very good as soon as we rolled it out of the transporter; as soon as we hit the track, we were confident the repairs were perfect, and we started turning our attention towards optimising the setup for Sandown,” Walden said.

“We’re confident we have a good setup but the forecast is for some unpredictable weather this weekend, so we’ll have to be prepared to adapt on the run.”

After the incident at Bathurst, Sheargold said the priority is to enjoy a trouble-free event.

“For Sandown, our goal is to roll the car into the truck at the end of the weekend with no damage, but also to be competitive. Even though we missed the last round at Queensland Raceway, we’re still fourth in the Am Class standings so there’s still plenty to play for in the closing rounds,” he said.

The GT World Challenge round will consist of two one-hour races, each with compulsory pit stops, while the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge will run a pair of sprint races on Saturday, followed by a longer, 35-lap mini-enduro on Sunday.

Saturday and Sunday’s sessions will be broadcast live on Stan Sport.

Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships Sandown Schedule

Friday, 16 September

9:10am – Porsche Sprint Challenge Practice 1 (30 min)

10:55am – GT Practice 1 (30 min)

12:30pm – Porsche Sprint Challenge Practice 2 (30 min)

2:05pm – GT Practice 2 (30 min)

3:40pm – Porsche Sprint Challenge Qualifying (20 min)

Saturday, 17 September

9:25am – GT Qualifying 1 (20 min)

9:50am – GT Qualifying 2 (20 min)

11:10am – Porsche Sprint Challenge Race 1 (14 laps)

1:25pm – GT Race 1 (60 min)

2:35pm – Porsche Sprint Challenge Race 2 (14 laps)

Sunday, 18 September

10:45am – Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Race 3 (35 laps)

1:35pm – GT Race 2 (60 min)