Charlotte Poynting isn’t sure which way she will go eventually, but for now the Novocastrian driver is happy switching between disciplines.
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The Warners Bay teenager, who turns 20 on Thursday, will compete in her third different car in as many weeks when she hits the track at the Gold Coast 600.
Poynting will finish the Aussie Racing Cars season this weekend before changing back to SuperUtes at the Newcastle 500 next month, but it comes fresh on the back of claiming a scholarship for the 2018-19 SsangYong Racing Series in New Zealand.
She contested the opening round just south of Auckland on the weekend, less than seven days after sealing the ute spot across the Tasman.
Trials were in Pukekohe, New Zealand, on Sunday, October 7, and only 24 hours prior Poynting was making her SuperUtes debut at iconic Australian course Bathurst.
There is around 2300 kilometres between the two venues.
“It’s been pretty hectic,” Poynting said.
“The scholarship just popped up on Facebook four days before Bathurst and I was like this could be a good opportunity.
“Being in the ute all weekend in Bathurst definitely helped me over the other girls who tried out for the scholarship in New Zealand.”
The female-driver scholarship covers most of the costs to participate in the five-round SsangYong Racing Series, which continues in New Zealand in December, races twice in February and wraps up in March.
Poynting finished 12th overall on the weekend after four races. “The racing is awesome and it’s going to teach me so much because it’s just door-to-door the whole time,” she said.
For now Poynting changes gears. She said all three vehicles have their own “challenges”, especially the drastic contrast between the small Aussie Racing Cars and the larger SuperUtes. The SsangYong Racing Series utes rate in between.
As for 2019, Poynting said: “at this stage it’ll be a full season in Aussie cars and hopefully a couple of ute rounds”.
Meanwhile, 27-year-old Woodrising resident Aaren Russell will have his third and final Supercars race for 2018 at the Gold Coast on the weekend.