Duvashen Padayachee hopes a change to Queensland outfit McElrea Racing will help his continued rise in Porsche Carrera Cup Australia in 2016.

Padayachee, who enters his fourth season in the Porsche championship, had a series of strong performances throughout 2015, highlighted by qualifying third at last season’s Townsville round.

McElrea Racing has experienced vast success in the one-make series; the former Teams Champion placed second outright in the 2015 Drivers Standings with young star Matt Campbell and also claimed the TAG Heuer Carrera Challenge title with Shane Smollen.

Padayachee hopes the change to McElrea Racing will help continue his rise up the order in the competitive Porsche championship.

“I have competed against McElrea Racing and its drivers for a while now and they have always been up the front. Andy McElrea runs a great program, especially for younger drivers, so it is great to be joining the team and benefitting from their experience with Porsche,” said Padayachee.

“Having a driver of Warren Luff’s calibre as a driver coach along with a strong engineering squad is a huge benefit, especially in a series as competitive as Carrera Cup where you’re racing against some of the best drivers in the country. It is also really beneficial to discuss feedback and data with someone who understands the car from a driver’s perspective.

“McElrea Racing has proven how strong its driver development program is in both Outright and Challenge classes and I am looking forward to developing my driving further with the team.”

Team Principal Andy McElrea is excited by his team’s new addition.

“We are really looking forward to running Duvashen for the 2016 Carrera Cup season. I’ve been watching him for a few years now and am rapt that we finally get to have him as part of our team,” said McElrea.

“With a good test program in place and our in-house resources, I expect he will be competitive from the first round at the Clipsal 500. For a few different reasons I don’t believe he has had a decent crack at this championship yet and we can’t wait to put the best car we can underneath him, sprinkle some of Luffy’s magic dust on him, and see how he goes.”

McElrea Racing will have at least four drivers in its 2016 Carrera Cup line-up. Campbell will return as one of the favourites to claim the 2016 Carrera Cup title, as does reigning Challenge champion Smollen, who will look to defend his class crown. Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge graduate James Abela will also move to Carrera Cup having raced with McElrea Racing in the Porsche feeder series.

The Porsche Carrera Cup Australia championship will hold its official test day at Sydney Motorsport Park on February 10 before the season kicks off at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide on March 03-06, 2016.