Love back for Carrera Cup Australia Championship assault on Sonic’s home turf
With five different winners from the last five rounds this year, the streak of non-repeating round winners in the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia Championship now stands at seven (Wall, Murray, Vidau, Jones, Wood, Hedge, Love) when dating back to Bathurst last year.
Due to the extremely high-level of competition among the Pro class of 2022, this streak has only happened on one occasion in series history - in 2014, between Rounds 2 and 8 - with the Championship record standing at eight different round winners in a row. A record which could be equalled this weekend should the form book repeat itself.
With Victoria’s traditionally wet and wintery weather predicted for all three days of the 135th round in Championship history, Porsche teams will be provided two warm up laps at the start of each race to allow drivers to build sufficient heat into the Michelin front control tyres. As evidenced at Round 2 in Winton, this measure should help the large, 31-car grid navigate first turns of the bumpy, 3.1km Sandown Race Circuit.
Fresh off a dominant round victory at The Bend Motorsport Park last time out, Sonic Motor Racing’s Aaron Love finds himself creeping back in contention in the overall Pro championship race, despite missing several point scoring rounds while abroad. With six podiums from 11 rounds, the West Australian has the best podium strike rate among active drivers.
Another driver to reaffirm his intentions for the 2022 title in Round 5, was the Dexion liveried Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry of Dylan O’Keeffe. The Victorian now sits second overall, only 46-points adrift of leader, Harri Jones (Hastings Deering / Mackellar Group) and 10 points ahead of 2017 Carrera Cup Australia Pro Champion, David Wall (Monochrome / Paynter Dixon) in third.
Despite missing the Top 6 in the last six consecutive races, Jones has always showed good pace on the Sandown Circuit and the 2019 Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Champion currently holds the Qualifying lap record - 1m09.2626s) - the fastest official lap of the historic circuit to date since it featured on the 2003 race calendar when the championship was first formed.
After a strong round at his own circuit in South Australia last time out, Sam Shahin (The Bend Motorsport Park) now enjoys a slender lead over the ever-consistent, Dean Cook (Zonzo Racing) and Geoff Emery (Force Accessories / MJR) entry in the Morris Pro-Am class.
Stephen Grove also returns for round 6 searching for his third consecutive victory in Morris Pro-am, having won the two prior Pro-Am rounds at the venue in 2017 and 2021. Despite his success, Grove has never qualified on pole at Sandown.
Following two practice sessions on Friday 19 August, Saturday plays host to a split qualifying (Pro / Morris Pro-Am) session with the first Sprint race scheduled in the mid-afternoon. A 40-minute, 31 lap Endurance race kicks off on Sunday morning before the final Sprint race after midday. All three races will be broadcast live on both Fox Sports and Kayo Sports throughout the weekend, with free-to-air coverage across Channel 7.