Carrera Cup began its season at Albert Park on March 5-8, but is not scheduled to resume until June 19-21 at Hidden Valley.

With such a big gap between events, an agreement has been reached to allow the newer 992.1-spec Carrera Cup cars to join the older 991.2-spec Sprint Challenge cars.

The Bend round forms part of the Shannons SpeedSeries on May 8-10.

Carrera Cup competitors will not be eligible for Sprint Challenge points.

It’s understood that around 10 competitors from Carrera Cup have committed to entering the non-championship event, with estimates of more than 30 cars expected.

Porsche Cars Australia senior motorsport manager Craig Nayda explained the rationale behind the move.

“We’re introducing a new concept for the Tailem Bend event for the Sprint Challenge round there, our Round 2 of our championship,” said Nayda.

“We’re going to have an invitational class of Porsche Carrera Cup cars in amongst our Sprint Challenge field.

“The net result of that will be hopefully the biggest one-make field we’ve ever had here in Australia.

“They’ll run effectively as a class within the race, a non-championship event of course.

“It’s an opportunity for the Carrera Cup competitors to join into the event and get into the theme of the GT Festival.”

The current 992.1 model will be grandfathered into Sprint Challenge in 2027 with the arrival of the new Porsche Cup car.

“It’s a prelude to what 2027 will look like. The current Carrera Cup car, the 992, will become the eligible outright car here in Sprint Challenge in 2027,” said Nayda.

Porsche Sprint Challenge began its season at Phillip Island as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries on March 27-29, which drew a 20-car grid.