TekworkX Motorsport driver Luke Youlden is predicting an incredibly close field at a Sandown Raceway where lap times are expected to dip underneath the 70 second barrier.
Sponsored by Hire A Hubby, Youlden has endured a rollercoaster campaign in 2022. Highlighted by pole position and a race win in Townsville but weighed down by an almost unbelievable run of misfortune that has latched onto the TekworkX Motorsport team.
At the most recent round in Tailem Bend, Youlden finished sixth and seventh either side of a race two spin that saw him finish in 15th.
“I think we’re going to see over a dozen cars covered by just a few tenths of a second. It’s a relatively quick lap time so that’s going to inherently make the gaps closer on top of the insane competitiveness of the category,” said Youlden.
“It will make getting an extra lap in qualifying really crucial. It’s a short track, so the tires will take even longer to come up to temperature, add to that the cold conditions and it’s going to be critical to roll out of pit lane at the front of the lineup to get that extra lap in. I expect we’ll see a lot of new tires going on cars in Friday practice to set that pit lane lineup.
“We feel that we’ve got a good direction to go with the cars for Sandown, after the test we did there a few weeks ago.
“It was a pretty good day to test actually, we got some wet track running in the morning before it dried out in the afternoon. It’s pretty rare that you get through a Sandown weekend without rain so to have that experience is important.
“Our cars have performed well at every track so far, it’s simply a matter of maximising where we can and eventually getting that sliver of luck that any team or driver needs to be successful, no matter how good you are.”
Round six of the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Championship takes place from August 19-21.
Championship Standings
1. Harri Jones – 605
2. Dylan O’Keeffe – 559
3. David Wall – 549
4. David Russell – 488
5. Aaron Love – 422
6. Dale Wood – 418
7. Christian Pancione – 409
8. Luke Youlden – 392
9. Max Vidau – 386
10. Callum Hedge – 379