In a rare occurrence over Luke Youlden’s career he will enter the Bathurst 1000 weekend without the added pressure of a co-driver role, as he lines up in Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup for TekworkX Motorsport.

Sitting tenth in the standings, with a pole position and a race win to his name, Youlden has consistently been one of the fastest drivers at times each round. The penultimate round of the season has long been bookmarked by Youlden as a weekend to get excited for.

“I’m very excited to go to Bathurst and put all my focus in one category and really have fun,” said Youlden.

“Ever since we got this car back in January, I’ve been looking forward to this round the most, it should really highlight the changes on the 992 compared to last year.”

 The unique format sees a single practice session on Thursday, preceding qualifying later that day before one race a day over the remainder of the weekend. Just a sole hit out before qualifying, in the new generation’s first visit to the mountain provides an added challenge.

“It’s a 50-minute session which is a decent amount of time, but red flags and the long lap time can whittle that down pretty quickly.

“I’d say the less practice the better, we have been rolling out pretty quickly in opening sessions this year and experience will count for a lot, which we have quite a bit of in this team.

“The track is going to be very different by the time we get out for qualifying anyway, with the gap between the two sessions on Thursday. This weekend is going to be all about adapting quickly, especially if the rain arrives as it is forecast,” concluded Youlden.

Round seven of the 2022 Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Championship takes place at Mount Panorama from October 6-9.

Championship Standings:
1. Harri Jones – 689
2. David Wall – 621
3. Dylan O’Keeffe – 605
4. Aaron Love – 597
5. David Russell – 595
6. Dale Wood – 484
7. Callum Hedge – 483
8. Christian Pancione – 476
9. Max Vidau – 444
10. Luke Youlden – 436