Vidau Reasserts His Challenge for the Carrera Cup Title
Max Vidau has firmly reasserted his place within championship contention for the 2023 Porshe Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Championship, with a blistering weekend in Townsville.
Highlights for Vidau’s TekworkX Motorsport teammates include a maiden Pro-Am race podium for Danny Stutterd, and a scintillating race three charge from fellow Pro Thomas Maxwell.
After dropping some points last time out in Darwin, Vidau immediately hit back with the second fastest time in qualifying on the Townsville Street Circuit. A hard fought second place result in race one was turned into a race victory thanks to a penalty in front, before Vidau dominated the Enduro Cup race on Sunday morning to take a commanding win. A gloves off start to race three dropped Vidau to fifth, but a measured drive ensured the Tyrepower driver held on for second overall for the round.
“Getting the win in race two was really special, on a track where we really struggled last year,” said Vidau.
“Winning in the wet at the Grand Prix was cool, but I’m always fast in the wet and we’ve always had a good high speed package. The performance this weekend is massive, we’ve shown that we have the raw car speed now on the short and tight circuits and we can really fight around these places. The team have done a phenomenal job to turn it around on this style of track and iron out any inconsistencies there.
“We go to Tailem Bend next where our cars have been strong in the past, and a home round for me of course, I’m really excited to carry this momentum into there,” concluded Vidau.
Maxwell was in a battle off the track across the weekend, with the Territorian feeling under the weather. Despite being only 0.39 seconds off the fastest time in qualifying, Maxwell lined up 13th for race one. It proved tricky to overtake with the Commercial Interior Projects backed driver crossing the line to end the race in 12th. Maxwell was moving forward in race two when he was hit from behind, ultimately leading to a retirement from the race. In race three Maxwell brilliantly moved up from 16th on the grid to finish in eighth place after just 17 laps, setting the fastest lap of the race along the way.
“It was such close margins up the front in qualifying and it just dropped us into the wrong end of the field,” said Maxwell.
“I was really happy after practice, we looked really quick, but unfortunately just one little mistake set back our whole weekend. We had to battle it out in the mid-pack and got turned around, so we needed to come back through in that last one.
“We were able to pass a lot of cars and set the quickest lap which showed the potential we had underneath us, just need to make sure we get qualifying right,” concluded Maxwell.
Pro-Am Stutterd continued to move his way up the Pro-Am pecking order, in his first full-time season of Carrera Cup racing. After qualifying in seventh Stutterd climbed to fifth in race one, and sixth in race two despite being turned around. The final race of the weekend brought about a maiden Carrera Cup podium for Stutterd who finished third in class with a strong drive.
The championship resumes from August 18-20 at The Bend Motorsport Park. TekworkX Motorsport will next be in action with their Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge and Toyota 86 cars at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Pro Standings Top 10
1. Jackson Walls – 396
2. Callum Hedge – 376
3. Max Vidau – 302
4. Dale Wood – 289
5. Alex Davison – 264
6. David Wall – 220
7. Fabian Coulthard – 193
8. Thomas Maxwell – 186
9. Nick McBride – 175
10. Angelo Mouzouris – 138
