Fresh Mindset For Gold Coast Carrera Cup

RAM Motorsport’s Dylan O’Keeffe says approaching this weekend’s penultimate Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup round with a fun mindset will be key to maximising his results at the Gold Coast street circuit.

This weekend marks O’Keeffe’s third race meeting in succession, and after some tough results at the Bathurst 1000, he rebounded with three consecutive podiums in the TCR Australia Series at Sydney Motorsport Park.

“This weekend, we’re obviously aiming for results that are more like Sydney than Bathurst, and mentally the TCR round was a great reset for me; I just concentrated on having fun, reminding myself how much I enjoy racing and the results flowed from there,” O’Keeffe said.

“I’ll be adopting the same mindset this weekend and the Gold Coast is the perfect venue for that – beautiful weather, a good crowd and the chance to cool off at the beach or in the pool after the racing has finished.”

O’Keeffe finished second overall in last year’s Gold Coast Porsche round, and said it’s a track that demands an aggressive style.

“To extract a fast lap time, you really have to fire the car across the kerbs in the Beach Chicane, but at the same time you’re conscious of avoiding mistakes, because the concrete walls are never far away.

“Overtaking in Carrera Cup is always tricky because of the closeness of the cars, but qualifying at the Gold Coast is critically important because you need to avoid being in the mid-pack where you can get caught up as an innocent victim in accidents, like the pileup we saw last year.

“It’s a half-hour qualifying session so we’ll have plenty of time to punch out some fast laps.”

Dean Cook also returns to the RAM Motorsport squad this weekend after missing the round at Mount Panorama.

The Carrera Cup action kicks off with a pair of practice sessions on Friday.