Sydney’s fifth round of the 2015 Porsche Carrera Cup Australia is the 87th round in championship history and will feature races 257, 258 and 259 in PCCA history. It’s also the seventh time PCCA has competed at Sydney Motorsport Park.
The venue – when it was known as Eastern Creek – hosted the PCCA twice in its inaugural season in 2003, including the final round of that year’s championship.
Sonic Motor Racing’s Nick Foster is aiming for his fifth straight PCCA race win in Race 1 at Sydney Motorsport Park and if he can win it he’ll join Jim Richards, Alex Davison, Craig Baird and Fabian Coulthard as the only men to win five PCCA races in a row. Richards holds the record for most consecutive race wins in PCCA history – 8 in 2003. Foster is the first man since Jonny Reid in 2012 to win four PCCA races in a row.
Reigning PCCA Champion Steve Richards will start his 100th race in the category in Race 2 at Sydney Motorsport Park and also make his 35th round start – the same number of rounds his father Jim competed in from 2003 to 2006 in PCCA!
Craig Baird is the defending round winner at Sydney Motorsport Park, however he’s not won a round or race in the 12 months since then. The Gold Coast-based Kiwi won all three races last year, the first man to clean sweep a PCCA round at SMP since Jim Richards in 2003. Since then he’s gone 19 races without a PCCA victory.
There is yet to be a repeat pole sitter in the 2015 PCCA. Four different drivers – Foster, McBride, Smollen and Russell – have taken the four poles so far this year. (Nick Percat is also attributed in PCCA record books with pole alongside Smollen for the Phillip Island Pro-Am).
The same thing occurred last year with four different pole sitters in the first four rounds. Sonic Motor Racing and Steve Richards Motorsport are the two form teams in Porsche Carrera Cup Australia at the moment. Between them the two Melbourne-based teams have won 12 of the last 13 PCCA races held since last October.
Sydney Motorsport Park is a venue where you don’t need to quality well to win in PCCA. The last two rounds have both been won by the car that qualified seventh on the grid (Baird in 2014, Twigg/Youlden at Rennsport in 2013).
Shane Smollen is aiming for his third straight TAG Heuer Carrera Challenge round win, a feat that hasn’t been achieved in PCCA since Max Twigg in 2013. In fact, Twigg and Rodney Jane are the only drivers to have ever won three rounds in a row in the TAG Heuer category, so Smollen could join them in the record books. Smollen is also aiming for his third straight TAG Heuer Carrera Challenge pole position – he was the last driver to do this in the category across the 2013/2014 seasons.
PCCA is really close in 2015 – only one of the 11 races held so far this year has been won by more than three seconds, and 0.9864s is the combined margin of pole positions across the four rounds held so far.
SMP LAP RECORDS
Race Lap Record: Steve Richards, 1m30.9042s, 2014
Qual Lap Record: Warren Luff, 1m29.1185s, 2014
SMP ROUND WINNERS
2003 Jim Richards (May round)
2003 Alex Davison (November round)
2004 Alex Davison
2005 Jonathon Webb
2013 Max Twigg/Luke Youlden (Rennsport round)
2014 Craig Baird
2 – Alex Davison
1 – Jim Richards, Jonathon Webb, Max Twigg, Luke Youlden, Craig Baird
SMP RACE WINS
2003 Jim Richards Jim Richards Jim Richards
2003 Alex Davison Alex Davison Alex Davison
2004 Alex Davison Jim Richards Peter Fitzgerald
2005 Jim Richards Jonathon Webb David Reynolds
2013 Nick Percat/Rodney Jane Max Twigg/Luke Youlden
2014 Craig Baird Craig Baird Craig Baird
5 – Jim Richards
4 – Alex Davison
3 – Craig Baird
1 – Peter Fitzgerald, Jonathon Webb, David Reynolds, Nick Percat, Rodney Jane, Max Twigg, Luke Youlden
SMP POLE POSITIONS
2003 Marcus Marshall 1m34.5818s
2003 Tim Leahey 1m35.2499s
2004 Alex Davison 1m33.2562s
2005 Jonathon Webb 1m33.9633s
2013 James Koundouris/Steve Owen 3m03.3155s (Combined Times)
2014 Warren Luff 1m29.1185s
SMP OUTRIGHT PODIUMS
2003 Jim Richards Marcus Marshall Tim Leahey
2003 Alex Davison Jim Richards Matt Coleman
2004 Alex Davison Jim Richards Peter Fitzgerald
2005 Jonathon Webb Luke Youlden David Reynolds
2013 Twigg/Youlden Davies/Gowans Luff/Emery
2014 Craig Baird Steve Richards Warren Luff
3 – Jim Richards
2 – Alex Davison, Warren Luff
1 – Marcus Marshall, Tim Leahey, Matt Coleman, Peter Fitzgerald, Jonathon Webb, Luke Youlden, David Reynolds, Max Twigg, Luke Youlden, Shae Davies, Adam Gowans, Geoff Emery, Craig Baird, Steve Richards