Max Vidau will turn his first laps of the Hidden Valley circuit this weekend when he attempts to reclaim his Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Championship lead at the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown.
After leading the series following a quartet of podiums at the Australian Grand Prix, Vidau slipped to fourth in the standings after a Winton weekend which again showed great car speed but was brought undone by the lack of passing opportunities.
“We missed the window in qualifying, we tried a different tyre strategy that didn’t pay off and at Winton once you were back in the pack it was nearly impossible to go forward,” said Vidau.
In the standings Vidau is part of a tight battle for second with just four points separating that position and the fourth placed Vidau, 74 points off the overall lead.
“It’s early on in the year, round three of eight so I’m really not looking at the Championship yet. Of course we still need to be mindful that if we want to be in contention when we go to the Gold Coast, we have to maximise all year long.”
While Vidau has never turned a lap at the Hidden Valley Circuit, or even set foot at the track, his teammate Luke Youlden will serve as a guidepost to help Vidau get quickly up to speed.
“It would be easy to be a bit concerned but I’m really not, I have Luke alongside me and there’s not a better person in the paddock to reference myself off.
“In saying that Luke hasn’t been to Darwin in 11 years either, but he’s incredible at coming up to speed quickly and adapting quickly, it’s a massive part of his career with all of his co-drives in the main game.
“We have two practice sessions on Friday and then we go Qualifying on Saturday so there’s a good amount of time to analyse our data before the competitive actions kicks off,” Vidau concluded.
Round three of the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Championship takes places on the support card for the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown from June 17-19.
Weekend Schedule
Friday
10:10am – Practice 1
1:30pm – Practice 2
Saturday
10:10am – Qualifying
2:10pm – Race 1 (18 laps)
Sunday
9:15am – Race 2 (18 laps)
1:10pm – Race 3 (18 laps)