THE WORKHORSE Radical Cup Australia will field a 20-strong grid at the opening round of the 2023 season this weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Joining the Shannons Trophy Series round at the Sydney circuit, the grid is the largest and arguably the most competitive yet assembled for the category as it enters its second season under the current format.

Despite the late start to the season, the field includes a broad mixture of returning names, experienced Radical veterans and young guns looking to progress their careers.

“It has been the hardest calendar to piece together, but the reward is such a strong grid for Sydney Motorsport Park,” Category Manager Charise Bristow said.

“We’ve worked extremely hard to make the series affordable, competitive and fun for the competitors and the fact we’ve got such a diverse group of drivers and teams competing is exactly what we hoped to achieve.

“There’s so many storylines to follow and it’s going to be a great weekend of racing.”

The Sydney grid is headlined by defending champion Chris Perini, who returns aboard his Bing Technologies / GWR SR3 XX.

Sydneysider Perini’s relentless consistency delivered him the title last year – including a race and round win at his home event last year.

Radical newcomers include teenager Alex Gardner, who will make his Workhorse RCA debut for Volante Rosso Motorsport this weekend.

The 15-year-old from Brisbane is a karting prodigy and has endurance racing at the Le Mans 24 hours in his mind as he embarks on his circuit racing career.

Gardner will join an expanded Volante Rosso squad, including Melinda Price making her Radical debut, driving alongside Greg Kenny, and Josh Hunt pairing with Peter Clare.

Arise Racing will once again make the enormous commitment to support the national series from their West Aussie base with another strong group assembled to take on the Easterners this year.

2022 title contender Elliott Schutte returns for a second season, while the experienced Jordan Oon will be joined by West Australian karting ace Zara Horn, who makes her national-level debut this weekend.

Horn’s addition to the grid takes to three the number of female competitors on the grid, she and Melinda Price joining Sue Hughes this year.

Cooper Cutts makes his RCA debut for Arise this weekend, as does Warwick Churche (Churche Racing) and Simon Arthur (TRACKS / Aplus Towing) – taking to seven the number of rookies on the grid for Round 1.

After challenging for the title with co-driver Peter Carr last year, Peter Paddon returns to single-driver duties to commence the 2023 title aboard his First Focus entry, prepared by GWR.

Meanwhile, Team BRM join the championship with Adelaide driver Mark Rosser entering in his #69 SR3 and Barton Mawer teams up with Terry Knowles in his Aus Nets-backed entry.

Other returning faces include Ash Samadi, Bradley Russell, James Hernandez, Sue Hughes, Steven Champion, Andrew Eldridge, Nick Kelly and Zig Fuhrmeister.

The 2023 Workhorse Radical Cup Australia commences with three practice sessions on Friday, 16 June at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Qualifying and the first 50-minute race will be held on Saturday, with the second race kicking off at midday on Sunday.

The Sunday show will be broadcast live on 7Plus, the Workhorse Radical Cup Australia social media channels, and the Motorsport Australia social media channels.