Carrera Cup joins Supercars at Taupō in 2024

The Repco Supercars Championship will be joined by the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia Championship at next year’s historic ITM Taupō Super400.

Supercars will return to New Zealand next April at the Taupō circuit, which becomes the 35th different circuit to host ATCC/Supercars racing.

It will also be a special weekend for the Aussie Carrera Cup series, which will race in New Zealand for the very first time at the April 19-21 event.

It will be just the second time that the championship will have competed outside of Aussie soil, following the visit to the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia in 2017.

New Zealand has a rich history in Carrera Cup Australia, dating back to the inaugural champion in 2003, Porsche Motorsport Australia Hall of Famer, Jim Richards.

Eight Carrera Cup Australia titles have been won by New Zealand drivers. Richards’ win in 2003 was followed up by Fabian Coulthard in 2005, with five-time champion Craig Baird is the most successful driver in Carrera Cup history.

Baird, the current Driving Standards Advisor in Supercars, won the Carrera Cup title in 2006, 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Jaxon Evans, now a global Porsche star, won in 2018.

There could be a new Kiwi star, with Callum Hedge in contention to claim the 2023 title at the upcoming VAILO Adelaide 500.

Young Kiwi stars Marco Giltrap and Zac Stichbury have already announced their step into Carrera Cup next year, and will get the chance to race on home soil.

Porsche Cars Australia Motorsport Manager Barry Hay said an overseas event comes at the right time for the series, which is a major support category of the Repco Supercars Championship.

"Returning to an overseas venue has been on the agenda for the championship for some time, but it needed to be the right venue, the right time and the right place,” Hay said. 

"Following the Supercars to Taupō for the first ITM Taupō Super400 event made all the sense in the world, and we have worked closely with the Repco Supercars Championship, Porsche Motorsport New Zealand and our teams and competitors to make the trip achievable.

"Carrera Cup has such incredible Kiwi heritage and DNA and while we are Carrera Cup Australia, we are fiercely proud to represent New Zealand as well — as witnessed with the teams and drivers who come from across the Tasman to race with us.

"It's going to be an incredible trip for our teams and drivers and a great experience to take the show on the road to another country.

"The Kiwi fans will have plenty of local to cheer for in our field next year and I am sure they are all relishing the chance to watch another Kiwi sporting star beat up on the Aussies in New Zealand.”

The full 2024 Carrera Cup calendar will be revealed in due course.

New Zealand will be represented by four drivers in the Supercars field next year — Richie Stanaway and Matt Payne (both Penrite Racing), Andre Heimgartner (Brad Jones Racing) and Ryan Wood (Walkinshaw Andretti United).

The 2023 Supercars and Carrera Cup seasons will both conclude at the VAILO Adelaide 500 on November 23-26.