Grove rejoins Morris Finance Pro-Am battle in Townsville
The Reid Park Circuit on the streets of Townsville will host round 3 of the 2021 Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia series. The decision to contest the NTI Townsville 500 event followed an anxious wait for many teams. As a result of the restrictions still in place for parts of Sydney, Tim Miles, Jackson Walls, Drew Hall and Indiran Padayachee will miss out this round, reducing the field size to 22 cars.
The 127th round in series history sees Cameron Hill enter as the hot favourite in the Mobil Pro class after his Squadra Bespoke liveried 911 GT3 Cup car set the pace at The Bend Motorsport Park last time out. In the process Hill became just the seventh driver in series history to win three consecutive rounds and should the Canberra resident take the round win again in Queensland, he would join an illustrious group of drivers including Craig Baird (2008), Jim Richards (2003) and Alex Davison (six-straight across 2003/2004) to ever achieve the feat.
Hill as a result, currently enjoys a healthy lead in the championship from Harri Jones (Helimods) and David Wall (Paynter Dixon / Shannons Insurance). Cooper Murray (Phase 8 / McElrea Racing) currently lies fourth overall and will be hoping to repeat his 2019 clean sweep, which saw him become Carrera Cup Australia’s youngest ever race and round winner.
Others to watch among the 15-strong Mobil Pro field include the likes of Dale Wood, Aaron Love, Nick McBride and Michael Almond – the latter pairing celebrating their 150th Carrera Cup race starts over the course of the weekend. It will also be interesting to witness how series newcomers Matthew Payne and Kyle Gurton fare among their highly experienced competition which includes the likes of Supercar stars such as Luke Youlden, Craig Lowndes and David Russell.
Stephen Grove will be looking to regain some lost ground on his Morris Finance Pro-Am rivals after not contesting Round 2. Sam Shahin as a result, leads the class for the first time in his career and the South Australian will resume his battle with Geoff Emery, Adrian Flack, Scott Taylor and Marc Cini.
After two practice sessions on the Friday, teams contest a 25-minute qualifying on Saturday morning followed by the first Sprint race that afternoon. A 40-minute Endurance race follows early on Sunday morning before the final race of the weekend on Sunday afternoon. All three races will be broadcast live on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports, with live free-to-air coverage of both races 1 and 3 also available on Channel 7.
