Dylan O’Keeffe has a very good reason for being excited about a Porsche Carrera Cup race under lights at Sydney Motorsport Park: last time he raced at night at the western Sydney venue, he won!
The event in question was held in 2018 and as well as breaking through for his maiden Carrera Cup race win in the weekend’s opener, O’Keeffe was also victorious in the Carrera Cup Australia vs Asia race that featured at the race meeting.
“2018 was a very cool experience, I’ll never forget the feeling of taking my first Carrera Cup race win in Race 1 that weekend,” O’Keeffe said.
“By the time we got to the Australia v Asia race on the Saturday night, there was a big crowd in attendance because it was the first night race for Supercars at SMP. There were some very fast Asian drivers, so I was really motivated to take the win for the Aussies and I was able to get the job done.”
A couple of test days with the RAM Motorsport/GWR Australia team have given O’Keeffe plenty of confidence heading into the weekend, on a circuit where he always performs well.
“The testing was productive, and at one of the days we were able to do some night running, which has prepared us well for understanding what the track conditions are going to be like,” he said.
“The big challenge at night will be managing the early laps; the ambient and track temperatures will be significantly colder than the daytime sessions.”
After a consistent start to the season, O’Keeffe sits solidly in the top five in the standings, but wants more.
“We’ve shown glimpses of form at each round, but haven’t quite put together a complete event yet. That’s definitely the goal this weekend, and hopefully I can replicate my winning form from 2018!
Carrera Cup Round 4 Schedule
Friday, 19 July
12:15pm – Practice 1 (25 min)
2:50pm – Practice 2 (25 min)
Saturday, 20 July
1:35pm – Qualifying (30 min)
6:10pm – Race 1 (25 min)
Sunday, 21 July
10:35am – Race 2 (45 min)
2:55pm – Race 3 (25 min)
