THE Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia field has landed in New Zealand as the championship prepares to race internationally for just the second time in its history.

19 Type-992 Porsche GT3 Cup Cars and an array of team equipment, spare parts and infrastructure arrived in New Zealand last week, cleared customs, and were delivered to Taupo Motorsport Park circuit, three hours South of Auckland, on Monday this week.

Cars have been unloaded at the circuit today, with teams and drivers arriving from tomorrow to prepare for the ITM Taupo Super400 event.

The event, the Repco Supercars Championship’s return to New Zealand, is sold out with huge crowds expected this weekend.

The 19 cars shipped overseas this weekend represents two more than the 17 that competed at the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia in 2017, when Carrera Cup Australia went head-to-head with the field from Porsche Carrera Cup Asia.

David Wall won both championship races that round while only two drivers – Dean Cook and Dylan O’Keeffe – will race this weekend that were also on the grid in Malaysia seven years ago.

The Aussie-based contingent – which already includes two New Zealanders, in the form of former champion Fabian Coulthard and rising star, Marco Giltrap – will be joined by a pair of locally-based 992 GT3 Cup Cars this weekend.

They will be driven by experienced drivers Sam Fillmore and Rick Armstrong and prepared by the famous Kiwi-based International Motor Sport team.

The pair are staples of the domestic GT scene and have extensive local knowledge, while IMS have a remarkable track record of success both at home and abroad.

Fillmore and Armstrong will run in the SP Tools Pro-Am class this weekend with their cars running in the identical specification as the remainder of the field.

The New Zealand contingent in Porsche Motorsport runs deeper than only drivers, with two teams owned by Kiwi Motorsport luminaries.

Reinging champions Earl Bamber Motorsport are owned by the two-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner, one of the best Sports Car racers in the world, while former champions McElrea Racing have strong Kiwi roots via owner Andy McElrea – who is the middle of three generations of New Zealand motorsport success.

Five-time Carrera Cup Australia Champion and multiple NZ Porsche champion Craig Baird serves as the series’ Driving Standards officer, a role he also shares with the Repco Supercars Championship.

The Aussie field is fresh from a fiery opening hit-out at Albert Park alongside the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, the Equity One Pro class claimed by former champion Harri Jones aboard his Porsche Centre Melbourne Motorsport / Hastings Deering CAT entry.

He beat Dale Wood to the round win while teenage star Marcos Flack was a standout – scoring a podium finish overall and winning the third and final race, his first of his short career.

The Taupo field includes Ryder Quinn, the grandson of circuit owner Tony.

11 shipping containers and more than 35 Tons of freight have made up a massive logistical exercise to ship the entire Porsche field to New Zealand this week.

The logistics program, managed by Gibson Freight in conjunction and with support from Porsche Motorsport New Zealand and the Giltrap Group, ran smoothly with all cars and equipment delivered to the circuit on time.

Action commences on Friday with practice, with qualifying and Race 1 on Saturday and two races on Sunday.

All the action will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 506 and Kayo Sports in Australia, and Sky Sports New Zealand.

ENTRY LIST – Round 2, ITM Taupo Super400, Taupo, New Zealand