Thomas Maxwell has put together his best ever weekend in the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Championship, while teammate Max Vidau fought back from a tricky qualifying and Pro-Am Danny Stutterd claimed his first top five result for the year.

Qualifying was split into two parts, with Stutterd and the Pro-Am’s out first before the Pro’s went out separately. Both sessions were just 12 minutes in length. Stutterd continued his rapid development on the Hidden Valley circuit, going seventh fastest in class. Maxwell and Vidau both featured in the top five early in Pro qualifying, with the former going on to qualify in third place. A hold up in pit lane, when Vidau pitted for new rear tyres, prevented him from getting an extra lap, which subsequently saw Vidau qualify in 14^th.

Maxwell took full advantage of his strong starting spot as he held on to third for the entirety of the opening race, leading to his first ever podium finish in Carrera Cup. Vidau gained five places on the opening lap to finish in ninth, with Stutterd gaining a place to finish sixth in Pro-Am.

In the second race Maxwell slipped to fourth off the line, where he remained for the rest of the race, as he looked after his tyres on a typically hot Darwin day. Vidau was in the thick of the action, getting caught up in a number of typical mid-pack incidents and finishing in 12^th. A post-race penalty further demoted Vidau to 19^th. Stutterd was fighting for third in Pro-Am before contact from another car sent him off the road, a good recovery allowed him to bring home fifth in class.

An overheating clutch hampered Maxwell off the line in race three, costing him a shot at gaining any places on the opening lap. Strong defensive driving over the rest of the race saw the Territorian hang on to a third consecutive top five finish for the weekend. Vidau couldn’t escape the clutches of the frenetic battling down the order, after getting pushed off the road he was able to gain a couple places to finish 17^th. Stutterd put together a strong drive, running inside the top five for Pro-Am all race and enjoying entertaining battles for a well-earned fifth place finish.

The podium finish in race one for Maxwell bettered his previous best series race result of fifth. The strong weekend has vaulted the #5 to fifth in the Championship, while Vidau sits in fourth. Stutterd is eighth in Pro-Am after missing two races at the season opener.

The next round for Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup takes place in Townsville from July 7-9.

Quotes:
Thomas Maxwell
“It was good round for our championship, great to get points on the board after a tricky start at the Grand Prix,” said Maxwell.

“We’re in the ballpark now and it gives us a good opportunity to push forward from here with good momentum and confidence that we’ve got the pace. Just need to ensure we keep doing a good job in qualifying and push on from there.

“These generation of cars around here are a lot of fun, quicker than what I drove in 2019 with the 991 and you get a really good feel for what the car is capable of. Passing was certainly tough, though it is in just about any car around here. I think our only area to work on is keeping our tyre alive, it’s proving tricky to get consistent long life out of the tyre.

“We’ll move on to Townsville and chase that elusive round podium,” concluded Maxwell.

Max Vidau
“We showed some awesome pace on Friday, so it’s frustrating how our weekend ultimately played out,” said Vidau.

“The little hold up in pit lane cost us a lot, we would have jumped inside the top five with one more lap at the end in qualifying. The tyres were coming up and I did a personal best final sector coming around to begin what would have been my fastest lap but the chequered flag beat us by a couple seconds.

“That put us in with the blokes back there who are racing for sheep stations and it’s a hard fought slog from there. I managed to move forward in the first one, tried to do the same in the second one and got escorted wide and we got swamped.

“Pretty sure we made the highlight reel all weekend so there’s a positive for all our sponsors and the crew at Tyrepower. Fortunately, we hold on to a decent championship position and we’ll get back up the front in Townsville, where the team put it on pole last year,” concluded Vidau.