O’Keeffe Maintains Third in Carrera Cup Standings

Dylan O’Keeffe has held onto his top three position in the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia standings, despite finishing a frustrated 12^th overall in Round 4 of the championship at the NTI Townsville 500 on the weekend.

The Dexion/RAM Motorsport Type 992 Porsche GT3 Cup driver maintained his recent strong qualifying form with third in Saturday morning’s session. However, his weekend unravelled at the start of Race 1 when he was involved in an incident at Turn 2.

“I made a great start and moved up to second position,” O’Keeffe explained.

“As we all braked for Turn 2, another competitor tapped me from behind, which pushed me into the rear bumper of the leader, who spun.”

O’Keeffe took evasive action and fell to sixth before the Safety Car was deployed to deal with another incident. The race ultimately finished behind the Safety Car but there was worse to come for O’Keeffe, who was penalised 10 seconds for his part in the incident. With the field being so tightly bunched behind the Safety Car, the penalty relegated O’Keeffe to 12^th in the Pro Class.

“The penalty was frustrating, given that I had received a bump from behind, but I had to cop it sweet,” O’Keeffe said.

In Race 2, O’Keeffe was caught in a freight train of cars fiercely battling for position and finished 13^th, but some well-judged setup adjustments from the GWR team vastly improved the car for Race 3 and O’Keeffe was able to finish ninth.

“Race 2 was difficult because we were struggling with pace and it was difficult to pass, but the car was much better in Race 3 and I was able to make up some places and finish in the top 10.”

Despite the challenging weekend, O’Keeffe accumulated enough points to protect his top three championship position.

“The Race 1 drama put us on the back foot for the rest of the weekend, which was frustrating considering we again had good speed in qualifying,” O’Keeffe said.

“Fortunately, we managed to finish all three races and at least banked some points from the round.

“I’m looking forward to the next round at Tailem Bend – our plan is to test before then, and learn some more about the new car. The Bend is a complex circuit, so we need to ensure we go there with as much knowledge as possible,” O’Keeffe concluded.

The next Carrera Cup round at the OTR SuperSprint takes place on 29-31 July.

Round Results Summary
Qualifying: 3^rd

Race 1: 12^th

Race 2: 13^th

Race 3: 9^th

Overall: 12^th

Carrera Cup Championship Points

1. Harri Jones – 540
2. David Wall – 501
3. Dylan O’Keeffe – 403
4. Dale Wood – 362
5. David Russell – 344
6. Max Vidau – 341
7. Callum Hedge – 319
8. Luke Youlden – 317
9. Jackson Walls – 304
10. Christian Pancione – 295