The second most winning driver in Porsche Carrera Cup Australia history, Alex Davison, is eyeing a return to the front of the field for round two of the 2023 Championship at Hidden Valley Raceway with Ashley Seward Motorsport.
Davison has won 47 times in Australia’s leading one-make category and returned to the series for the first time since 2018 at this year’s season opening event as part of the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix. With race one of the weekend classed as a non-event, two ninth place finishes in the weekend’s remaining races have placed Davison ninth in the Equity-One Pro standings heading to Darwin.
Davison’s last full-time season in the category in 2017 was the last time the 2004 series champion raced a Porsche around the Hidden Valley Circuit, however his last visit to the circuit came as part of his 2020 Supercars Championship campaign. In that 2017 visit Davison notched up a third place and two second place finishes across the weekend, to finish second for the round.
The 2.870km circuit presents an exciting blend of slow and fast corners, which in 2022 proved to be a difficult combination for overtaking in the new generation of Type 992 cars.
“I’m happy to be back in the Scott Taylor Motorsport car and I’m appreciative to Scott and Rebecca (Taylor) for giving me the opportunity,” said Davison.
“I really enjoy racing in Darwin, I’ve had success around Hidden Valley in both Supercars and Porsche. As with any track and event we need to make sure we do a good job in finding a strong car balance. Hidden Valley has an interesting blend of fast and flowing sections and slow corners, there’s the huge front straight and a really heavy braking zone as well. You need to have a car that is stable in the fast stuff but able to turn through the slow sections.
“The deal to race at the Grand Prix came together at the last minute, and we didn’t get to do as much preparation as we’d have liked. Fortunately, the big break before round two has allowed us to properly prepare for this weekend. Overtaking in this generation of car is looking a bit harder than previous years, so we’ll work hard during practice and put a big focus on qualifying well.
“Hopefully that allows us to have a good weekend and be more competitive than we were at the Grand Prix,” concluded Davison.
Round two of the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Championship takes place at Hidden Valley Raceway from June 16-18 as part of the Betr Darwin Triple Crown.