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Twelve months after his last appearance on in Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup, Luke Youlden will return to the category this weekend on the Gold Coast.
He will join regular TekworkX Motorsport pilots Max Vidau and Thomas Maxwell in Round 7 from October 27-29.
His return to the streets of Surfers Paradise in a one-off appearance. The co-owner of TekworkX will drive the #23 entry, usually in the hands of Pro-Am racer Danny Stutterd who must miss the penultimate round due to family commitments.
Youlden has worked closely with the Carrera Cup squad throughout the season in his capacity as Team Manager.
“I’m excited to get back behind the wheel, my last race was the Gold Coast in 2022 and I thought I drove pretty well at that one, even if the results didn’t particularly reflect it,” said Youlden.
“It’s hopefully a positive for Max and Thomas as well, having a third Pro driver, to help them out a bit. Three heads are better than one, looking at data and trying different things to find the speed. I’ve got a fair amount of experience with lots of co-drives around there, so I don’t expect the year out of the seat will affect me too much.
“I expect Danny will still have an integral role within the team, and I know full well that I’m going out to do the best I can for myself and for Danny in his car. If we can help Thomas and Max in their efforts as well, then that’d be perfect for the team,” Youlden concluded.
Backed by Spitwater, Maxwell sits ninth in the points standings and has only had one previous appearance on the Gold Coast in 2019.
“I’m interested to see how these cars handle the big kerbs down the back, being a bit stiffer than what I drove in 2019, I think they’ll be a bit of a handful. The experience from Luke and just having a third Pro car there to try things and provide more data is invaluable,” Maxwell enthused.
Vidau is fourth in the championship, 145 points off the series lead. The Tyrepower driver has good form on street circuits. He won at the Australian Grand Prix and followed with two more wins in Townsville.
“Luke and I were as fast as each other pretty much all season in 2022, massively keen to have his support again for this one and have his input. I couldn’t be happier to be without the tyre bundles though, the Porsches do way too much damage if you hit them and they could ruin your weekend quickly. Championship wise, we’d need a bit to go our way,” Vidau admitted.
