The second round of the Australian GT Championship sprint series was held in support of the Formula 1 opener at Melbourne. It would consist of four races of 20 minutes each so there would be no pitstops in the races, and as in this Championship Balance of Performance is conducted via pitstop times, times would be added to the race times.
The key impact of this would be that the end result would not necessarily be how the cars crossed the finish line.
If I can indulge in editorialising for a moment, this would be to inspire the drivers to race hard and that former F1 drivers could compete with gentleman drivers.
But it would soon be evident that the rules were confusing and not fit for purpose. Not only would the race results be delayed, the first across the line would not actually win any of the four races over the weekend. In one instance the first over the line would drop to 14th place overall and in another the winner dropped to 22nd.
Making the rules work in situations that they were never designed for, combined with some questionable driving and technical infringements would make for a challenging weekend for those in control.
However, it must be said that the Australian GT Championship were transparent and open in their dealings and in the demands for information. A step forward
Back to the event, Melbourne would see the debut of the all new Ferrari 488GT3 for both Vicious Rumour and Maranello with former F1 pilot Andrea Montermini, Benny Simonsen (Vicious Rumour), Tony D’Alberto/Peter Edwards and Cameron McConville/Adrian Deitz for Maranello.
Due to late submission of homologation papers the Ferraris would have to race in an Invitation class at the discretion of the GT Championship. While they could not score points, they could compete – an important decision given the amount of Ferrari hierarchy at the race for the F1 encounter!
It was also a similar situation for the BMW M6 of Steven Richards. Their all important homologation paperwork was not passed in time for that round and that car too competed in an Invitational class. For information purposes, the new Porsche that is due into Australian GT later this year has already had its homologation papers approved!
It was a solid debut for the Ferrari, taking the quickest times in qualifying but an issue in the engine mapping of this new car saw them outside the rule book and taking a grid penalty. This left the JAMEC PEM Audi of Chris Mies/Geoff Emery on pole from the TEKNO McLaren of Jonathan Webb/Grant Denyer.
Race 1
The first of the four races for the Australian GT Championship at Melbourne wase held on the Thursday – the same day of qualifying.
It would be the international race debut of the Ferrari 488 GT3 and also the first win for the new Mercedes AMG GT3 with Craig Baird behind the wheel.
While Audi’s Chris Mies led from lights to flag, the adjusted times for the ‘pitstops’ that they could not make were added to the times and he would drop to second.
Baird flew throughout the race and in the new car, would show just how much the GT3 machinery has improved since the last time the Australian GT Championship visited the Albert Park circuit.
In 2009, Tony Quinn in an Aston Martin set the lap record. This year, Baird set a time that was 4.7 seconds faster with a lap time of 1:55.113.
A true demonstration of the pace of progress in GT3 racing.
Elsewhere in the race, Marcus Marshall has a spirited fight with Andrea Montermini – with the former in a repaired Audi after a big crash at Adelaide and Montermini making the international debut for the Ferrari 488 GT3.
The pair would fight with Marshall getting the better of the Italian to grab third spot.
Front row starter Jonathan Webb could not hold the pace in the McLaren and would drop to tenth.
Race 2
The second of four races in the Australian GT Championship at Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit was a thrilling affair.
The race started on a damp track with the field lining up on wets but a bunch decided to pit on the warm up lap to take on slick tyres.
That would be the inspired choice.
Morcom and his TEKNO Autosport team-mates Grant Denyer and Elliot Barbour all opted for the dry Pirelli P-Zero tyres, as did the Vicious Rumour Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 of Benny Simonsen and Klark Quinn in the Darrell Lea McLaren.
These drivers then be engaged in a huge battle of the race that lasted for 22 minutes.
Benny Simonsen handled the drying conditions the best, even pulling out a small lead at one point.
But the feeling of the race would change when the rain returned. Simonsen made a mistake and lost his buffer. Suddenly he had Morcom on his tall.
The slick track ensured that no one watching could predict who would take the flag first (or even at all!).
Simonsen held on from Morcom but once the ‘compulsory pitstop times’ were added on, he would be second, behind Morcom with Klark Quinn taking third.
Race 3
Lets say that we are glad we weren’t in race control, enforcing rules that had no contingency for extraordinary situations. For race three, held on Saturday morning the rules were not fit for what happened on track.
Again it was another short affair with times to be added to the drivers times post race. And showed a stunning issue with the rule book that had a dramatic affect on the result of the race.
The crux of the issue lay in the fact that there was a multicar collision caused by Tony Quinn getting into the back of Roger Lago’s Lamborghini that subsequently took out the Maranello Ferrari, both M Motorsport Lamborghinis, Taplin Lamborghini, Craig Baird’s Mercedes and Tony Walls’ McLaren.
The clean up effort took some time and allowed just one lap of racing.
Andrea Montermini took the flag – and in an interesting fact ‘won’ at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne 20 years after failing to qualify the Forti at F1’s first visit to Albert Park.
But just one lap obviously would not allow him to pull out the 12 seconds needed to beat the parity rules and win.
In fact on first look, after all the times added to the drivers’ times. Tony Quinn took the win. The same driver that caused the accident to start with.
However the official release of the results was delayed and he was disqualified. Due to the severity of the incident, Quinn was excluded from the entire weekend, not just race three.
In the end Matt Solomon was declared the winner ahead of Steve McLaughlan and Klark Quinn.
Montermini would be classified 14th.
It is hoped that next time there is a race with this format, there will be provisions in the rules to avoid confusing situations like this.
Race 4
The final race of the weekend took place on Sunday morning before the Formula 1 Grand Prix.
It was a race where race three winner Matt Soloman would pull clear of the field in the Mercedes AMG GT3, pulling out a gap that may have seen him take the win even after the post race adjustments.
But it wasn’t to be. A crash between Andrew MacPherson’s Porsche and Peter Rullo in a Lamborghini at the fast turn 11-12 complex brought out the safety car. Soloman who benefited from the Balance of Performance in race 3 now suffered the swing of the pendulum.
He never lost the lead on track but 21 other drivers would pass him in the end after the extra time was applied.
Klark Quinn (McLaren) and Nathan Morcom (McLaren) ended up second and third on track and got to spray the champagne but again fell from the top positions once the penalty time was applied.
Once the adjustments had been made, James Koundouris (Audi) Geoff Emery (Audi) and Tony Walls (McLaren) were in the podium positions.
Sam Tickell
@racerviews
Race Results (official after time added, not as they crossed the line)
Race 1
1 Craig Baird – Scott Taylor Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 21:40.2790
2 Christopher Mies – JAMEC PEM Audi R8 LMS +5.5483s
3 Marcus Marshall – Supabarn Supermarkets Audi R8 LMS +11.000s
4 Andrea Montermini – DeFelice Homes Ferrari 488 GT3 +13.3378
5 George Miedecke – Miedecke Motor Group Aston Martin Vantage GT3 +21.1563
6 Glen Wood – Interlloy M Motorsport Lamborghini R-EX +21.6482
7 Cameron McConville – Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3 +22.2862
8 Roger Lago – JBS Australia Lamborghini R-EX +22.5079
9 Dean Canto – Taplin Real Estate Lamborghini R-EX +25.4309
10 Nathan Morcom – TEKNO Autosport McLaren 650S GT3 +25.4800
11 John Martin – Waltec Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3-R +25.7899
12 Matthew Solomon – Eggleston Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 +26.0564
13 Klark Quinn – Darrell Lea McLaren 650S GT3 +26.8627
14 Tony Quinn – Darrell Lea Aston Martin Vantage GT3 +28.7658
15 Nathan Antunes – SLR TEKNO Autosport McLaren 650S GT3 +31.1111
16 Tony D’Alberto – Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3 +33.2570
17 Ricky Capo – Modena Engineering BMW Z4 GT3 +37.2211
18 Jonathon Webb – McLaren Melbourne McLaren 650S GT3 +41.0065
19 Mark Griffith – Hog’s Breath Cafe/Griffith Corporation Mercedes-AMG GT3 +42.5450
20 Tony Walls – Objective Racing McLaren 650S GT3 +45.5533
21 John Magro – M Motorsport Lamborghini Gallardo FLII +51.6785
22 Steve McLauglan – JAMEC PEM Audi R8 LMS +54.1057
23 Greg Taylor – GT Motorsport Audi R8 LMS +57.5823
24 Hector Lester – Rosso Verde Racing Ferrari 458 GT3 +1:01.2997
25 Ash Samadi – Bondi Wholefoods Mercedes-Benz AMG SLS GT3 +1:31.6692
26 Matthew Turnbull – Fire Rating Solutions Lamborghini LP-560 GT3 +1:36.8479
27 Rod Salmon – Skwirk Online Education Audi R8 LMS +1:38.6988
28 Tim Miles – Fastway Couriers Audi R8 LMS Ultra +1:44.7962
29 Andrew Macpherson – AMAC Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3-R +1 lap
30 Tim Macrow – Koala Motorsport Ferrari F430 GT3 +2 laps
DNF Alex Rullo – Performance West Motorsport Lamborghini Gallardo FLII
DNF Steve Richards – BMW Team SRM BMW M6 GT3
Race 2
1 Nathan Morcom – TEKNO Autosport McLaren 650S GT3 22:30.9298
2 Benny Simonsen – DeFelice Homes Ferrari 488 GT3 +3.2119s
3 Klark Quinn – Darrell Lea McLaren 650S GT3 +6.4606
4 Elliot Barbour – SLR TEKNO Autosport McLaren 650S GT3 +18.3413
5 Grant Denyer – McLaren Melbourne McLaren 650S GT3 +33.5002
6 Geoff Emery – JAMEC PEM Audi R8 LMS +38.2804
7 Aaron Tebb – Waltec Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3-R +49.4942
8 Andrew Miedecke – Miedecke Motor Group Aston Martin Vantage GT3 +51.6518
9 Roger Lago – JBS Australia Lamborghini R-EX +57.1269
10 Tony Quinn – Darrell Lea Aston Martin Vantage GT3 +1:02.4589
11 Matthew Solomon – Eggleston Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 +1:03.1516
12 John Magro – M Motorsport Lamborghini Gallardo FLII +1:10.6267
13 James Koundouris – Supabarn Supermarkets Audi R8 LMS +1:14.8566
14 Tony Walls – Objective Racing McLaren 650S GT3 +1:16.8203
15 Scott Taylor – Scott Taylor Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 +1:17.0152
16 Steve McLaughlan – JAMEC PEM Audi R8 LMS +1:24.2534
17 Andrew Taplin – Taplin Real Estate Lamborghini R-EX +1:24.7820
18 Tim Miles – Fastway Couriers Audi R8 LMS Ultra +1:31.2027
19 Justin McMillan – Interlloy M Motorsport Lamborghini R-EX +1:31.5362
20 Max Twigg – BMW Team SRM BMW M6 GT3 +1:33.8813
21 Peter Edwardso – Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3 +1:42.5518
22 Matthew Turnbull – Fire Rating Solutions Lamborghini LP-560 GT3 +1:50.1302
23 Greg Taylor – GT Motorsport Audi R8 LMS +1:51.4994
24 Ash Samadi – Bondi Wholefoods Mercedes-Benz AMG SLS GT3 +1 lap
25 Hector Lester – Rosso Verde Racing Ferrari 458 GT3 +1 lap
26 Andrew Macpherson – AMAC Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3-R +1 lap
27 Adrian Deitz – Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3 +2 laps
DNF Mark Griffith – Hog’s Breath Cafe/Griffith Corporation Mercedes-AMG GT3
DNF Rod Salmon – Skwirk Online Education Audi R8 LMS
DNF Ricky Capo – Modena Engineering BMW Z4 GT3
DNF Peter Rullo – Performance West Motorsport Lamborghini Gallardo FLII
Race 3
1 Matthew Solomon – Eggleston Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 21:03.8541
2 Steve McLauglan – JAMEC PEM Audi R8 LMS +1.4546
3 Klark Quinn – Darrell Lea McLaren 650S GT3 +1.7476
4 Greg Taylor – GT Motorsport Audi R8 LMS +2.7885
5 George Miedecke – Miedecke Motor Group Aston Martin Vantage GT3 +4.1125
6 Nathan Morcom – TEKNO Autosport McLaren 650S GT3 +4.7073
7 Marcus Marshall – Supabarn Supermarkets Audi R8 LMS +6.3363
8 John Martin – Waltec Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3-R +6.5922
9 Andrew Macpherson – AMAC Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3-R +6.6364
10 Nathan Antunes – SLR TEKNO Autosport McLaren 650S GT3 +7.3698
11 Ricky Capo – Modena Engineering BMW Z4 GT3 +7.7267
12 Jonathon Webb – McLaren Melbourne McLaren 650S GT3 +10.8173
13 Hector Lester – Rosso Verde Racing Ferrari 458 GT3 +11.4772
14 Andrea Montermini – DeFelice Homes Ferrari 488 GT3 +11.5769
15 Christopher Mies – JAMEC PEM Audi R8 LMS +12.2369
16 Matthew Turnbull – Fire Rating Solutions Lamborghini LP-560 GT3 +12.3817
17 Steve Richards – BMW Team SRM BMW M6 GT3 +13.0949
18 Brenton Griguol – Koala Motorsport Ferrari F430 GT3 +14.0745
19 Ash Samadi – Bondi Wholefoods Mercedes-Benz AMG SLS GT3 +14.4967
20 Tim Miles – Fastway Couriers Audi R8 LMS Ultra +15.0022
21 Cameron McConville – Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3 +17.9958
22 Alex Rullo – Performance West Motorsport Lamborghini Gallardo FLII +18.3931
DNF Tony Walls – Objective Racing McLaren 650S GT3
DNF Roger Lago – JBS Australia Lamborghini R-EX
DNF John Magro – M Motorsport Lamborghini Gallardo FLII
DNF Craig Baird – Scott Taylor Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3
DNF Dean Canto – Taplin Real Estate Lamborghini R-EX
DNF Glen Wood – Interlloy M Motorsport Lamborghini R-EX
DNF Tony D’Alberto – Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3
Tony Quinn – Darrell Lea Aston Martin Vantage GT3
Race 4
1 James Koundouris – Supabarn Supermarkets Audi R8 LMS 23:14.5965
2 Geoff Emery – JAMEC PEM Audi R8 LMS +0.7254
3 Tony Walls – Objective Racing McLaren 650S GT3 +1.1332
4 Simon Ellingham – Fastway Couriers Audi R8 LMS Ultra +1.2793
5 Aaron Tebb – Waltec Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3-R +1.8552
6 Benny Simonsen – DeFelice Homes Ferrari 488 GT3 +2.4594
7 Elliot Barbour – SLR TEKNO Autosport McLaren 650S GT3 +2.5603
8 Justin McMillan – Interlloy M Motorsport Lamborghini R-EX +2.7653
9 Ricky Capo – Modena Engineering BMW Z4 GT3 +3.0639
10 Hector Lester – Rosso Verde Racing Ferrari 458 GT3 +3.1820
11 Grant Denyer – McLaren Melbourne McLaren 650S GT3 +3.3235
12 Matthew Turnbull – Fire Rating Solutions Lamborghini LP-560 GT3 +3.6749
13 Max Twigg – BMW Team SRM BMW M6 GT3 +3.8824
14 Greg Taylor – GT Motorsport Audi R8 LMS +3.9143
15 Nathan Morcom – TEKNO Autosport McLaren 650S GT3 +3.9159
16 Hector Lester – Rosso Verde Racing Ferrari 458 GT3 +4.3227
17 Ash Samadi – Bondi Wholefoods Mercedes-Benz AMG SLS GT3 +5.5362
18 Andrew Taplin – Taplin Real Estate Lamborghini R-EX +6.2867
19 Andrew Miedecke – Miedecke Motor Group Aston Martin Vantage GT3 +6.3005
20 Klark Quinn – Darrell Lea McLaren 650S GT3 +7.5470
21 Adrian Deitz – Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3 +7.6975
22 Matthew Solomon – Eggleston Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 +9.3472
23 Brenton Griguol – Koala Motorsport Ferrari F430 GT3 +1 lap
DNF Scott Taylor – Scott Taylor Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3
DNF Andrew Macpherson – AMAC Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3-R
DNF Peter Rullo – Performance West Motorsport Lamborghini Gallardo FLII
