The GWR Australia squad is making the marathon 4,000km drive across the Australian continent with four cars for this weekend’s second round of the Radical Australia Cup Series, to be held at the Barbagallo circuit as part of the Bunnings Trade Perth SuperNight.
After a three-race format was used for the opening round at Phillip Island, the series is reverting to the more traditional twin-enduro schedule this weekend, with a pair of 43-lap races to be held.
Current points leader Chris Perini has had arguably the busiest lead-in to the weekend; after marrying his partner Charlotte on Saturday, Perini immediately travelled south to co-drive with his father Richard in Targa Tasmania. Perini will arrive in Perth just in time for the opening Radical practice session on Friday morning.
“I’m feeling good, it’s been a great honeymoon so far!” Perini said.
“I’m optimistic about bagging solid points and learning a new track. It’s great to see some talented local drivers on the entry list.”
Peter Paddon, 12 points behind Perini in the standings, will once again be joined in his Radical SR3 XX by Peter Carr. Carr has previous experience at the Barbagallo circuit – he competed there in the Aussie Racing Cars in 2014, finishing on the podium.
“I’m not sure how much of an advantage Pete’s previous experience will be for us, but at least he’s done laps of the track,” Paddon said.
“I’m expecting it to be a tough weekend, there are some very accomplished local drivers in the field and some of them won’t be handicapped by pit stop success penalties, which will make them hard to beat.
“I’m aiming to enjoy the experience of learning a new track and I’ve done some laps on the sim to prepare. Barbagallo typically has quite high tyre degradation due to its abrasive surface, so it will be interesting to see how the teams manage that across the weekend.”
Apart from Carr, the other GWR driver with prior experience at Barbagallo is Sue Hughes, who competed at the venue aboard a Ford Falcon production car back in 1999.
“It’s been a very long time since I raced in Perth, but I’m looking forward to heading back,” Hughes said.
“I had a lot of fun at Phillip Island and I also raced in the NSW Supersports round at Sydney Motorsport Park a few weeks ago, but it was very wet – hopefully the weather is better this weekend.”
The final GWR representative is Stephen Champion, who is aiming to recover for some misfortune in the season opener at Phillip Island.
“Phillip Island was an unlucky weekend for me with some mechanical issues and incidents, but I’m looking forward to putting that behind me and having some fun at a new track,” Champion said.
The Radicals will hit the track for a pair of practice sessions on Friday.
Radical Cup Australia – Round 2 Schedule
Friday, 29 April
11:45am – Practice 1 (20 min)
2:15pm – Practice 2 (20 min)
Saturday, 30 April
11:30am – Qualifying (30 min)
3:45pm – Race 1 (43 laps)
Sunday, 1 May
10:20am – Race 2 (43 laps)
