Dylan o’keeffe

O’Keeffe Braves Challenging NZ Weather for Consistent Results

Dylan O’Keeffe and his RAM Motorsport/GWR Australia squad have survived a mixture of weather conditions at New Zealand’s Taupo circuit to come away with fourth place overall in Round 2 of the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia.

In Friday’s dry practice sessions, O’Keeffe quickly came to grips with the track and punched out the third-fastest time in both sessions aboard his Dexion Porsche 992 GT3.

“All the simulator time definitely paid off and I was able to push hard from the outset,” O’Keeffe said.

Qualifying was held on a damp track, with the bulk of the field electing to run on wet tyres; O’Keeffe’s fastest flying lap put him fourth on the grid for Race 1, while his second-fastest lap earned him pole for Race 2.

“I was able to do a couple of pretty much identical times, so the consistency was good but I probably could have found some extra time in my final run, and challenged for the Race 1 pole as well,” he said.

Heavy rain greeted the field for Race 1, which started behind the Safety Car; once the Safety Car left the circuit, the poor visibility made it a battle for survival.

“The conditions were the worst they had been all weekend, and it was just a case of staying on the track and avoiding the standing water,” O’Keeffe said, after finishing fifth.

While the rain stopped for Race 2 on Sunday morning, the track was still semi-damp, creating some difficult setup decisions for the teams. Early in the race, O’Keeffe lacked the pace of the front-runners and settled for a top-five finish.

“It was hard to decide what to do with setup, and we didn’t quite get it right for the conditions so I was again glad to bring it home in the top five,” he said.

The track was dry by the time Race 3 rolled around and O’Keeffe made an aggressive start, gaining a place on the opening lap before finishing fourth.

“By the last race, the car was the best it had been all weekend and I had the confidence to attack on the first lap,” he said.

“For the rest of the race, I pushed hard to try and break into the top three and almost got there at the end.”

The results put O’Keeffe fourth for the round, moving him up to sixth in the standings and also closing in on the championship lead.

“We would have liked a bit more from the first two races, but by the end of the weekend our pace was really strong, so we’ll carry some good momentum into the next round,” O’Keeffe concluded.

Round 3 of Porsche Carrera Cup will be held at Darwin’s Hidden Valley circuit, 14-16 June.