The GWR Australia squad is set for a typically busy weekend on home turf at the Sydney Motorsport Park round of the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships this weekend, with entries in the Radical Cup Australia, Australian Prototype Series and Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge.

In Radical land, GWR’s competitors are all looking forward to returning to their local circuit after a challenging weekend in the previous round of the series at Perth’s Barbagallo circuit.

Despite the mixed results, Chris Perini continues to lead the series standings but his margin at the top of the leaderboard has been reduced to just five points over Jordan Oon.

Peter Paddon and Peter Carr also found it tough competing against the Western Australian drivers, but did enough to maintain their positions towards the top of the standings, with Paddon in fourth and Carr in sixth. They will once again share the car this weekend.

“Being a twin-driver combination, we were up against it in Perth from the very start of the weekend, because we had to share the practice and qualifying time, which meant we didn’t have as much time to learn the track,” Paddon explained.

“All weekend, we were playing catch-up against the local teams who had vast experience at the track, with both car setup and driving technique, so our results weren’t too bad considering.

“I’m looking forward to being back at a known location this weekend and it’s great to share the car with Pete again; he’s done a great job of adapting to the Radical and he is already as quick as me, if not even a bit quicker sometimes.”

After a luckless first two rounds of the RCA, Steve Champion will be hoping his fortunes finally improve this weekend, while the always enthusiastic Sue Hughes will be aiming for another enjoyable round in her SR3. And making a welcome return to the grid in his SR3 XX is Ash Samadi, who showed impressive pace in the season-opener at Phillip Island.

Perini, Carr and Champion have double-entered their Radical SR3s in the Australian Prototype Series races, while Steve Roberts – a regular competitor in NSW Supersports – will also run in the APS aboard his Radical SR8.

On the Porsche side of the equation, Indiran Padayachee will contest the Michelin Sprint Challenge races in his 991 Mk2 GT3 Cup car. After attending Winton last weekend to watch his son Duvashen racing in Carrera Cup, Indiran is keen to be back behind the wheel.

“I’m having a lot of fun with my racing this year,” he said.

“Duvashen and I teamed up in the Sydney Motorsport Park 4 Hour back in February, which ended up being a great event even though I crashed at the start of the weekend.

“Then I competed in the Bathurst 12 Hour with Eric Constantinidis, who bought one of my old Carrera Cup cars and that was another very enjoyable event, even though we spent a fair bit of the race in the pits fixing a problem with the car.

“Duvashen did a good job at Winton last weekend, especially in qualifying, but watching him on track reminded me how much I want to be back behind the wheel!”

The Radical Australia Cup and Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge will both be on track for practice tomorrow, while the Porsches will also qualify in the evening.

The racing on Saturday and Sunday will be shown live on Stan Sport.

Event Schedule

Friday, 27 May

8:30am – Radical Cup Australia Practice 1 (20 min)

9:20am – Australian Prototype Series Practice 1 (20 min)

11:05am – Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Practice 1 (30 min)

11:40am – Radical Cup Australia Practice 2 (20 min)

1:05pm – Australian Prototype Series Practice 2 (20 min)

2:35pm – Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Practice 2 (30 min)

4:20pm – Radical Cup Australia Practice 3 (20 min)

5:20pm – Australian Prototype Series Practice 3 (20 min)

7:05pm – Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Qualifying (20 min)

Saturday, 28 May

9:00am – Radical Cup Australia Qualifying (30 min)

9:40am – Australian Prototype Series Qualifying (20 min)

10:50am – Radical Cup Australia Race 1 (50 min)

11:50am – Australian Prototype Series Race 1 (13 laps)

12:40pm – Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Race 1 (27 laps)

4:30pm – Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Race 2 (11 laps)

Sunday, 29 May

9:45am – Radical Cup Australia Race 2 (45 min)

10:40am – Australian Prototype Series Race 2 (13 laps)

12:40pm – Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Race 3 (11 laps)

1:40pm – Australian Prototype Series Race 3 (15 laps)