Ashley Seward Motorsport’s Dean Cook has earned his first round podium of the year in Porsche Carrera Cup, crediting advice from long-time friend and fellow Carrera Cup driver Dylan O’Keeffe before race three.
Following on from a breakthrough one-two finish for ASM in Winton Geoff Emery and Dean Cook experienced wildly differing fortunes in round three of the season, with Emery experiencing one of the worst rounds in his Carrera Cup career. Fellow ASM driver Scott Taylor found a new step in his driving as he grows increasingly confident in the new generation car.
Cook earned a row two start with a superb qualifying effort, putting him just one tenth behind Emery and fourth on the grid. The opening race on Saturday saw Cook rise to third after Emery fell down the order to 6th with bent steering and Taylor finished 11th.
In race two Cook fell back to fourth while Emery was turned around on lap one relegating him to 10th, Taylor achieved his best result since the opening round with eighth.
Race three saw Cook finish just one second shy of the race win in Pro-Am as he finished in second place, Emery was hampered by the lack of passing opportunities and could only climb to seventh and Taylor was part of a race long fight on his way to 11th.
Quotes
Dean Cook
“I knew I had the pace from the outset, but I made a couple of mistakes in the opening race, I luckily was able to capitalise on some misfortune for Geoff but that was still disappointing to see him have an issue.
“I was caught out by the yellow flags in race two which cost me a couple spots but still a good result points wise.
“Before the final race I got some tips from Dylan, who helped me understand how I should be trying to approach my driving. I needed to be a lot more aggressive with my driving and commit to driving it that way, it worked out pretty well evidently.
“I could see the leader out my windscreen but couldn’t quite catch up to him. I’m very pleased with second for the round, considering my last few rounds here haven’t been so good. Really happy.”
Scott Taylor
“I was happy with my speed on Saturday, I got quicker as the race went on and I had a chance to have a go at Cini on the last lap. There was some good respect between us in the fight, but it didn’t quite work out and I fell down a spot but really happy with that race.
“Sunday was more about getting my right foot braking right and well the whole weekend really, I was looking to change my driving style.
“I’m leaving the round feeling a lot better about the car, with the help of Alex Davison who is with me all year I feel that I’ve unlocked another level that I can now work towards.”
Geoff Emery
“I’ve been turned around multiple times this year, and the offending car hasn’t been penalised. It ruined our weekend in Darwin and has hurt our championship, not much else to say,” said Emery.