Jaxon Evans and Matt Campbell to star in Porsche PAYCE and MICHELIN Virtual Cup
Carrera Cup and Sprint Challenge drivers to take on Evans in virtual season opener
It’s been a busy couple of weeks for drivers of both the Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup and Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge drivers preparing for Monday night’s opening round of the Porsche PAYCE and MICHELIN Virtual Cup Australia at the Philip Island circuit and hosted on the iRacing platform.
Intended as a fun, online race for drivers from both Porsche series competing in the 2019 and 2020 seasons, the Porsche PAYCE and MICHELIN Virtual Cup will also allow the local drivers to pit their driving skills against former and current Porsche Motorsport stars.
Headlining the Porsche All-star International entry will be 2018 Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup Australia Champion and current Porsche Junior Driver, Jaxon Evans. Evans has a been a regular top five contender in the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup Virtual Edition this year and will share the International All-Star entry over the six round virtual season with Porsche factory driver, Matt Campbell –the 2016 Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup Australia Champion.
The Porsche Legends car for the opening round has been entrusted to the 2004 Carrera Cup Australia Champion, Alex Davison who is currently competing in the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries.
Adding a further international flavour to the new official online series – the first in Porsche Cars Australia’s history – will also see two entrants from Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific in the form of Earl Bamber Motorsport’s Reid Harker and Will Bamber take to the Philip Island grid.
The Porsche Team entry for crew members of Carrera Cup teams has been allocated to Porsche Centre Melbourne for Round 1, with crew member Jess Hammond at the wheel.
Apart from the leading Michelin Junior, Mobil Pro and Pro-Am drivers from both the Carrera Cup and Michelin Sprint Challenge, the full field of 44 cars in Round 1 will also play host to former series drivers like Michael Patrizi, Bathurst 1000-winner Johnathan Webb and Supercup star, Joey Mawson.
Porsche Cars Australia’s Head of Motorsport, Troy Bundy said, “We are thrilled to have a full field of 44 cars for the opening round of the Porsche PAYCE and Michelin Virtual Cup. We’ve had a lot of interest since the series was announced and I’m looking forward to a good evening of fun, competitive racing for all our drivers. It’s also great for our current top drivers to have this opportunity to pit their skills against not only former Bathurst winners like Jono Webb, but also international stars like Jaxon, Matt and Joey.”
In addition, Porsche has also secured a mystery guest driver for the full season in the Geisterfahrer (Ghost Driver) Car. Fans of the Porsche Motorsport Australia social pages will be invited to guess who he/she is at the end of the series to stand a chance of winning a 1:43 scale Porsche 911 RSR model. More details on this will be announced this week.
Post-race highlights of each event will be promoted on Porsche Motorsport Australia social channels, with all three races shown on the CarreraCupAus Youtube channel at 20:00 (Melbourne time) every Friday evening of the race week, with commentary from Carrera Cup series commentator, Richard Crail.
Follow Porsche Motorsport Australia on on Facebook and Instagram @PorscheMotorsportAU to keep up-to-date with information about the Porsche PAYCE and MICHELIN Virtual Cup Australia Championship.
Entry list: Round 1 – Philip Island
Category Class Name Surname Racing #
1 Geisterfahrer Pro Ghost Driver 1
2 Carrera Cup Pro Thomas Maxwell 2
3 Carrera Cup Pro Will Bamber 3
4 Carrera Cup Pro Reid Harker 4
5 Sprint Challenge Pro-Am Nathan Murray 5
6 Carrera Cup Pro-Am Tim Miles 6
7 Sprint Challenge Pro Ryan Suhle 7
8 Carrera Cup Pro Nick McBride 8
9 Carrera Cup Pro-Am Marc Cini 9
10 Carrera Cup Pro Sam Brabham 10
11 Sprint Challenge Pro Kyle Gurton 11
12 Carrera Cup Pro Harri Jones 12
13 Sprint Challenge Pro-Am Matthew Belford 14
14 Carrera Cup Pro Josh Hunt 15
15 Carrera Cup Pro Michael Patrizi 16
16 Sprint Challenge Pro Callum Hedge 17
17 Sprint Challenge Pro-Am Marcel Zalloua 18
18 Carrera Cup Pro Jono Webb 22
19 Carrera Cup Pro-Am Liam Talbot 27
20 Sprint Challenge Pro-Am Rob Woods 29
21 Carrera Cup Pro-Am David Ryan 30
22 Carrera Cup Pro Duvashen Padayachee 34
23 Carrera Cup Pro Cooper Murray 36
24 Carrera Cup Pro David Wall 38
25 Sprint Challenge Pro-Am Sergio Pires 55
26 Carrera Cup Pro Fraser Ross 59
27 Sprint Challenge Pro-Am John Goodacre 66
28 Sprint Challenge Pro Matthew Payne 67
29 Carrera Cup Pro-Am Greg Ward 68
30 Sprint Challenge Pro-Am Michael Hovey 73
31 Sprint Challenge Pro Christian Pancione 76
32 Carrera Cup Pro Michael Almond 77
33 Carrera Cup Pro Aaron Love 78
34 Sprint Challenge Pro-Am Brett Boulton 84
35 Sprint Challenge Pro Ollie Shannon 88
36 Team – PCM Pro-Am Jesse Hammond 89
37 Sprint Challenge Pro-Am Emanuel Palyaris 91
38 Carrera Cup Pro Joey Mawson 96
39 Carrera Cup Pro Dale Wood 100
40 Carrera Cup Pro Cameron Hill 111
41 Sprint Challenge Pro-Am Graham Williams 131
42 Carrera Cup Pro Max Vidau 777
43 Legends Pro Alex Davison 911
44 Intl All-stars Pro Jaxon Evans 912
Round Date Circuit
1 04 May Phillip Island
2 18 May Barcelona
18 May Daytona (Night Race)
3 01 June Monza
4 15 June Mount Panorama
5 29 June Spa Francorchamps
29 June Le Mans (Night Race)
6 13 July Silverstone
Sources: Angus Thompson/Porsche Cars Australia PR