Australia’s top Porsche teams and drivers will converge on the Reid Park Circuit in the coastal city of Townsville in Northern Queensland for the fourth round of the 2022 Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia Championship.

It will be the 133rd round held in the history of the Championship since it began in 2003 and as the 2022 results show, this has been one of the most hotly contested seasons on record.

The first three rounds of this season have thus far produced three different round winners in each class including: Max Vidau, Harri Jones and Dale Wood in the Pro class and Geoff Emery, Matthew Belford and Liam Talbot in the Morris Pro-Am battle.

Remarkably, the 2022 round winners in Pro and Morris Pro-Am represent no less than six different Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (Type 992) teams including: TekworkX, McElrea Racing, EBM, Ash Seward Motorsport, Porsche Centre Melbourne and Wall Racing.

If one was to go back to last year, there would have been five different winners from the five most recent rounds (David Wall and Cooper Murray taking honours in the last two 2021 rounds held at Bathurst in December) in the Pro class.

Round 3 in Darwin also saw four drivers (Jackson Walls, Callum Hedge, Christian Pancione and Brad Shiels) all scoring their best round results in the most recent event, while witnessing a strong return to the top of the podium by Dale Wood, as the Timken driver continues to gel with the Earl Bamber Motorsport Team.

Dale Wood’s recent form has been impressive: progressing each round from 7th-5th-4th-3rd-2nd-1st-1st in his last 7 races. Having left Round 1 of the championship in 15th, he now sits fourth in class. In the Pro Championship the first and second belong to Harri Jones and David Wall respectively due to their ever-present pace and consistency.

The pair are the only two drivers in the entire field to have finished every race in the Top-10 this season. Jones has never been lower than seventh, Wall ninth. Max Vidau was the only other driver with such a streak prior to his 13th place in race 3 in Darwin.

While 2022 marks the Championship’s eighth visit to the Reid Park circuit on record, the 2021 round saw Cooper Murray become the first multiple round winner in Townsville’s Carrera Cup history, with Matt Payne winning the third race on that occasion. The young Kiwi had qualified on pole however stalled at the start and only finished Race 1 in 10th position.

In Morris Pro-Am, Stephen Grove won the 2021 round by a single point over Geoff Emery, thanks to his pole position. This year Grove together with Rodney Jane and Scott Taylor are the only drivers to have started every round and to have not had a DNF.

No circuit on the current calendar has an older lap record than Townsville, the benchmark set on the Championship’s first visit in 2011 by Jonny Reid (McElrea Racing) in a time of 1m14.0389s and has not been beaten since. Given the performance and pace of the new 992 at every track this year, will 2022 be the year this age old record falls?

Following two practice sessions on Friday 08 July, Saturday plays host to a split qualifying due to the nature of the tight street circuit, before the first sprint race at midday. A 40-minute (approx. 28 lap) Endurance race takes place early on Sunday morning before the final sprint race at midday.

All three races will be broadcast live on both FoxSports and Kayo Sports throughout the weekend, as well as on free-to-air television on Channel 7.

Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia, Round 4, Townsville
Broadcast Schedule:

Friday, 08 July
09:30 - 09:55 Practice 1
13:10 - 13:35 Practice 2

Saturday, 09 July
08:25 - 08:35 Qualifying 1
08:40 - 08:50 Qualifying 2
12:45 - 13:10 Race 1 (17 laps)

Sunday, 10 July
08:30 - 09:10 Race 2 (28 laps)
12:45 - 13:10 Race 3 (17 laps)

Entry List:
# Name Surname Sponsor Class
4 Stephen Grove Grove Racing Pro-Am
5 Ryan Suhle SP Tools / EBM Pro
6 Angelo Mouzouris Sonic / PitBox Pro
7 Tim Miles Miles Advisory Partners / N2C Pro-Am
8 Nick McBride Porsche Centre Melbourne Pro
9 Marc Cini Hallmarc Pro-Am
11 Jackson Walls Objective Racing Pro
12 Harri Jones Hastings Deering / Mackellar Group Pro
13 Sam Shahin The Bend Motorsport Park / OTR Pro-Am
14 Matthew Belford ID Land / Porsche Centre Melbourne Pro-Am
17 Callum Hedge Team Porsche NZ / EBM Pro
20 Adrian Flack AGAS National Pro-Am
22 Dean Cook Zonzo Racing Pro-Am
25 Michael Almond The PSA Group Pro
27 Liam Talbot Wash It / Paynter Dixon Pro-Am
28 Bayley Hall Hall Finance & Insurance Pro
38 David Wall Monochrome / Paynter Dixon Pro
45 Duvashen Padayachee Rentcorp Hyundai Forklifts Pro
48 Geoff Emery Force Accessories / MJR Pro-Am
53 Luke Youlden TekworkX / Hire A Hubby Pro
72 Max Vidau TekworkX / Tyrepower Pro
74 David Russell EMA Motorsport / Dayco Pro
76 Christian Pancione VCM Performance / HP Tuners Pro
77 Rodney Jane Sonic / Bob Jane T Marts Pro-Am
86 Drew Hall Wall Racing Pro-Am
88 Dylan O'Keeffe Dexion / RAM Motorsport Pro
100 Dale Wood Timken Racing Pro
101 Tony Quinn Local Legends Pro-Am
222 Scott Taylor Scott Taylor Motorsport Pro-Am
333 Brad Shiels Royal Purple Racing Pro
777 Simon Fallon Bob Jane T Marts / Bremtech Pro
999 TBC TBC Sonic / Bob Jane T Marts Pro