McElrea Racing’s Christian Pancione will compete in the colours of Supercheap Auto in the 2023 Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia championship.

The 21-year-old is about to embark on a second full season in Carrera Cup, and third in total, which starts this weekend at the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix.

This time around, his Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car will be emblazoned in the red and yellow hues which have already been seen on Supercars and GT3s backed by Supercheap Auto.

“Supercheap Auto has a long involvement in motorsport sponsorship, backing some of the highest-profile drivers, teams and events in Australia, so their support is a big boost for our 2023 programme,” said Pancione.

Supercheap Auto sponsorship manager Justin Murray said, “We are super excited to partner with Christian Pancione in this year’s Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia season.

“Christian has been super impressive coming through the junior ranks and is a future star.

“The Porsche Carrera Cup series is a highly respected and successful category, and we’re pumped to make it super with Christian for the 2023 season.”

Pancione is a close friend of Oscar Piastri, who will make his Formula 1 debut on home soil this weekend with McLaren.

“It’s a massive weekend for Oscar, being the first time that he’s raced at his home grand prix, so it’s very cool that I get to compete at the same event as him,” said Pancione.

“He’s obviously going to be very busy, but hopefully, he’ll have some time to watch our Carrera Cup races, and then naturally, I’ll be cheering for him in the F1 race on Sunday afternoon.”

Pancione will be part of a five-strong McElrea contingent in Carrera Cup in 2023, his team-mates being Jackson Walls, Bayley Hall, Ryder Quinn, and Tim Miles.

Practice at Albert Park starts on Thursday, with three races across the weekend.