Dylan O’Keeffe says this weekend’s third round of the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia at the NTI Townsville 500 will be key to resurrecting his title aspirations, after a difficult start to his 2023 campaign.
O’Keeffe has shown strong pace in the first two rounds at the Australian Grand Prix and Hidden Valley, qualifying fourth in each, but dramas in the opening race at both events have cost him valuable points and left him sitting a lowly 14th in the standings.
“The comeback starts this weekend,” O’Keeffe declared.
“While it’s not ideal to be so far back in the championship, in many ways it takes the pressure off – I just need to go for race wins now, there’s no point being conservative.
“The most frustrating thing about the Grand Prix and Darwin is that our problems were in Race 1, which buried us in the pack and meant we were on the back foot for the rest of the weekend.”
Should O’Keeffe taste success this weekend, one thing he won’t be doing is celebrating with an alcoholic beverage. He is currently undertaking the “Dry July” campaign, to raise valuable funds for Bowel Cancer Australia, after his friend and GT World Challenge Australia competitor Mike Sheargold was diagnosed with the cancer.
“Mike has been a terrific supporter of my racing for the last couple of years and for him to be diagnosed with bowel cancer was horrible, but fortunately it was detected early and he’s expected to make a full recovery,” O’Keeffe said.
“He’s organised a fundraising drive for Bowel Cancer Australia which has already raised over $100,000 but I’d like to help them get to $150k, so I’m encouraging everyone to support my Dry July campaign.
“Hopefully I finish on the podium this weekend so I can spray everyone with champagne rather than drinking it myself!” O’Keeffe concluded.
Donate to Dylan’s Dry July campaign HERE.
Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Round 3 Schedule
Friday, 7 July
8:35am – Practice 1 (25 min)
12:05pm – Practice 2 (25 min)
Saturday, 8 July
8:40am – Am Qualifying (12 min)
8:58am – Pro Qualifying (12 min)
12:40pm – Race 1 (17 laps)
Sunday, 9 July
8:20am – Race 2 (28 laps)
12:40pm – Race 3 (17 laps)
