Ashley Seward Motorsport pair Geoff Emery and Dean Cook are on the cusp of taking a commanding first and second place in the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Pro-Am standings. Teammate Scott Taylor is also hitting his goals and moving up the field, detailed on his website.
Emery is hitting his strides in the 2022 season, becoming the first driver to win multiple rounds with the Porsche 911 Type 992 that was introduced earlier this year. A win at the season opening Australian Grand Prix was complimented by a dominant clean sweep in Townsville, taking pole position and leading every lap on his way to three wins.
Cook has continued his ride up the Pro-Am ranks after his best championship result of third came in 2021. In the last two rounds Cook has finished second in Darwin and third in Townsville.
Entering round five of the season, Emery leads the standings by 17 points with Cook 52 back in third. The absence of second placed Stephen Grove gives the pair the perfect chance to seize a commanding championship position.
“The momentum with having a string of rounds close together like we do is great when we’re performing well,” said Emery.
“We’re in the car every couple of weeks so there’s no need to worry about test days, at least for us Pro-Am guys, and stuff like that. Ash Seward and the team have unlocked a bit of speed in the car over the last couple of rounds which has helped propel us forward to.
“I won here last year, but it will be tough against Shahin who probably has the whole field covered in testing miles at this place. I haven’t done a whole lot of racing out at The Bend but I’m not overly concerned about that as my form is pretty good there.
“Having Cook up in the fight with me is great, he’s done a really excellent job this year and we race each other with a lot of respect. This will be an important round, and Sandown, as then we have a bit of a break before two wildcard sort of rounds in Bathurst and the Gold Coast to end the year. You want to be hitting those two tracks with a bit of margin to play with,” concluded Emery.
“My goal is to finish every race on the podium where possible and with the exception of some misfortune we are doing pretty well in that regard,” said Cook.
“This year definitely feels like my best chance for a top two in the Championship and as a bonus I’m enjoying it a bit more as well this year which is just as important for me. In terms of this weekend I quite like The Bend, it’s a smooth and forgiving track but also quite fast. Car set up will be pretty important but the ASM crew have plenty to draw from in that regard.
“If I can qualify a bit better that will give me some more confidence, because I keep qualifying fourth or fifth which doesn’t give you a whole lot of confidence lining up for the first race. Confidence equals success in this business so if I get up front from the get-go we’ll have another good showing,” concluded Cook.
Round five of the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Championship hits the track from July 29-31 at The Bend Motorsport Park.
Carrera Cup Pro-Am Standings
1. Geoff Emery – 515
2. Stephen Grove – 498
3. Dean Cook – 463
4. Sam Shahin – 461
5. Liam Talbot – 459
6. Rodney Jane – 456
7. Tim Miles – 364
8. Matthew Belford – 326
9. Scott Taylor – 283
10. Marc Cini – 234