Luke Youlden has secured TekworkX Motorsport their maiden pole position and race win in the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Championship, but celebrations were subdued after their luckless season struck again.
Joined by Max Vidau, the TekworkX pair have consistently been amongst the fastest on track which was again the case in Townsville. Youlden delivered on his promise to turn around his qualifying form with a storming lap that smashed the previous qualifying record.
Race one saw his first victory with TekworkX Motorsport and the team’s first ever victory, however the controversy and drama of that race left Youlden feeling a little ‘hollow’ over the win. Vidau by contrast qualified in 18th on Saturday morning before being caught up in the turn two mess in race one and finishing 21st.
A challenging getaway off the line in race two saw Youlden drop to third on the opening lap, before setting a new race lap record and pressuring the cars in front. An experienced move saw Youlden race back up to second and then challenge for the win on the final lap. Contact from the race leader pushed Youlden into the fence and relegated him back to third. Vidau carved his way forward from 18th to finish in 14th, highlighted by some bold moves under brakes at the turn 11 hairpin.
The final race was a rough affair, after working his way back on to the podium placings Youlden was hit and spun around. The collision dropped Youlden to last in the Pro Class. Vidau had his elbows out as well, showing off his aggressive race craft as he fought diligently to hold on for 13th on aging tyres.
Quotes
Luke Youlden
“We had a really strong day on Friday in practice, only a tenth off the fastest time without actually putting a set of green tyres on ourselves.
“I knew we had the car speed and I just had to put it together in qualifying and I’m really pleased that we could put a qualifying session together and put ourselves up the front of the field for the first time which is what we’ve needed to do all year.
“That first race was a bit of a hollow victory, I’ll take it but obviously not even a lap of green flag running so not much to talk about. There’s been a few in the past I probably deserved to win but didn’t, so you take what you get.
“We were racing for the win in race two and I got squeezed into the wall which knocked us off the front row for race three. Then in that last race I was just running around comfortably in a podium position before we got taken out which left us nowhere.
“There are positives, we nailed the practice and qualifying run and did fastest laps in the races so we are moving in the right direction. We just need the luck to go our way for once.”
Max Vidau
“It was awesome fun being on a street circuit for the first time and bouncing over the kerbs in these cars.
“We made some good changes in practice so our qualifying was a bit surprising, we did find something not quite right mechanically after that session which we fixed up and then were pretty quick in the races.
“Once we actually got some laps in during race two, I was one of the fastest cars on track but we struggled a bit once the tyres went off the edge, which seemed to happen a bit earlier than we’d have liked.
“By the end of race three we were battling pretty hard to hang on. We’ll keep working at it and keep pushing next time.”
