Dylan O’Keeffe is expecting small but significant details such as driver changes to play a critical role in this weekend’s Penrite Oil Sandown 500, in which he will share the Bendix Camaro with Nick Percat for Matt Stone Racing.
An increase in the flow rate for refuelling cars during pit stops, combined with a mandate for primary drivers to start the race, means there is the possibility for a driver swap to take longer than refuelling.
“In our recent test at Queensland Raceway, Nick and I did a lot of driver change practice and worked hard on refining our procedures,” O’Keeffe said.
“It’s important that we can get them done really efficiently, because if the refuelling is complete and you’re still doing the driver change, you’re effectively losing time. It could be where the race is won or lost.”
O’Keeffe faces a busy weekend of double duty, dovetailing his Supercars co-driver duties with a trio of Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup races. After winning the Sandown Carrera Cup round last year and completing a successful test day with his RAM Motorsport/GWR Australia squad, O’Keeffe is confident in the pace of his Porsche.
“I’m looking forward to Carrera Cup, we’ve won races at Sandown the last two years so we’ll be looking to continue that form,” he said.
“Our biggest advantage so far this year has been our consistency – I’m the only driver who’s finished every race in the top 10 – so if we can add in some race wins, we’ll be right in the championship game.”
While he is well-accustomed to switching between different race cars at the same event, O’Keeffe said one of the challenges this year will be adapting to the different procedures in the two categories.
“The Carrera Cup races are pretty standard in terms of the rules, but in Supercars there are new procedures with Full Course Yellows and a speed limiter that has to be activated when the Safety Car is deployed.
“It will be important to nail those processes because if you get them right you can gain time, but if you get them wrong you’ll cop a penalty.”
This weekend’s action will be shown live on Fox Sports and Kayo.
2024 Sandown 500 Schedule
Friday, 13 September
9:15am – Carrera Cup practice 1 (25 min)
10:45am – Supercars practice 1 (30 min)
12:05pm – Carrera Cup practice 2 (25 min)
12:45pm – Supercars practice 2 co-drivers (30 min)
2:55pm – Carrera Cup qualifying (30 min)
3:40pm – Supercars practice 3 (30 min)
Saturday, 14 September
9:15am – Carrera Cup race 1 (25 min)
9:55am – Supercars practice 4 (40 min)
12:05pm – Supercars practice 5 (40 min)
2:15pm – Supercars qualifying (20 min)
2:55pm – Carrera Cup race 2 (45 min)
5:25pm – Supercars top 10 shootout (1 lap)
Sunday, 15 September
9:55am – Supercars warm-up (20 min)
12:00pm – Carrera Cup race 3 (25 min)
2:05pm – Supercars Sandown 500 (161 laps)
