Mixed weather meeting the competitors of the CAMS Australian GT Championship held at Barbagello Raceway in Perth.
The round format would revert back to two, 1-hour races with compulsory pit stop times differing for each driver based on driver rankings and qualifying pace.
The Walkinshaw squad debuted the new Porsche 911 GT3 R with John Martin and Aaron Tebb behind the wheel.
Unlike the new Ferraris and BMWs, the Porsche arrived in Australia with the homologation papers completed, allowing it to race for points from the very start.
“While the car effectively arrived ‘race ready’ we still had to prepare and install the Australian GT regulation equipment, then conduct the necessary system checks before we put the car on the circuit,” explained Mathew Nilsson, Team Manager Walkinshaw GT3.
“Fortunately the car left Germany earlier than expected which helped tremendously with the preparation and I have to thank everyone at Porsche Australia and Germany for that.”
There was also a change with the leading Jamec Pem Audis with defending Champion, Christopher Meis missing the round due to an overseas clash. Former LMP1 racer, Marco Bonanomi was drafted in as a replacement and would drive alongside Geoff Emery.
Overall, 20 cars would line up on the tight track, that takes a minute to lap. Ferraris were notably absent from this weekend’s racing.
Qualifying
The qualifying session was split into two, 20 minute sessions.
The first session was held in damp conditions but would progressively dry throughout.
Ever the master at reading the conditions, Bonanomi topped his first Australian GT session. He put in a 0:57.885, some 0.8 seconds faster than Audi stablemate Barton Mawer in the session.
Rain returned for the second session, securing the front row for Audi and pole for Bonanomi/Emery, the latter’s third pole position in a row.
Race 1
The first race of the weekend also took place in changeable conditions, with Bonomoni starting from pole and controlling the pace for the first 20 minutes.
The race started with damp conditions and the track quickly dried presenting a dilemma for the teams, do you stay on wets on a drying track or do you pit outside the window for dry tyres?
For many their hands were forced when at the 20 minute mark, the safety car came out. Bonanomi, Jonathon Webb and Nathan Antunes, three main front runners all took the gamble to pit before the pit window opened, dropping them down the field.
As the field rolled through their scheduled pitstops, Bonomoni found himself in the lead and handed over to Emery. Given their pole position and high driver rankings, they had the longest pitstop, dropping them from contention to the lower half of the top 10.
Benefiting from shorter pitstop times and good strategy calls were Steve McLaughlan (Audi) and Tony Quinn (Aston Martin).
Their races at the front through would be complicated by a crash between Scott Taylor and Max Twigg, both in Mercedes AMG GT3s. The resulting safety car period closed the field and left a 13 minute race to the flag.
McLaughlan would be able to put in a race winning effort that belied his AM status, holding off all challengers, even pulling a five second gap to those arguing for second.
Quinn, however wasn’t so lucky. The snake of cars would eventually get the better of him with Morcom (McLaren) and James Kondouris/Marcus Marshall battling past the elder Quinn for the podium.
Tony would eventually slip down to eighth.
For McLaughlan, though his race win was a satisfying one. He may have used strategy to get to the lead but he kept it with pace.
“The team gave me a lap time and I just drove to it,” McLaughlan said of his final stint. “They pulled a masterstroke bringing us into the pits when they did, and that really made our race.”
Race 2
The second and final race of the Australian GT weekend was a also one-hour affair on Sunday.
Held in dry conditions, it was marred by a heavy crash for the Jamec Pem Audi driver of Geoff Emery.
While battling for position with a pack of cars, he was wide coming off the final corner. The car, destablised already hit the big outside kerb and flung the car into the wall. It was a heavy impact to the front of the car as it dug into to close barrier. The stopping distance was also short.
The crash resulted in an extended safety car, then red flag while Emery was extricated from the Audi through the roof. He would be hospitalised complaining of back pain.
Earlier this week, the Australian GT Press Office released this statement on the condition of Emery:
“Geoff has successfully undergone surgery on Tuesday to fuse his L1 & L2 vertebrae, stabilising his back following his race accident on Sunday.
“He is recovering well, with the doctors having him sitting up, and even standing after fitting a back brace.
“There’s a road to recovery ahead, but Geoff will be home before too long, will make a full recovery, and with time, will be able to race again.”
The race would be restarted with 19 minutes to go. In a clever move by the Australian GT officials, they halved the pit stop time, and made it as added time to the race.
This made for an interesting battle on the track and an interesting battle for the mathematicians as they had to figure out who was actually battling who.
As it turned out it was a battle with Klark Quinn (McLaren), Craig Baird (Mercedes), and for a while Peter Rullo (Lamborghini). Rullo was running down the field but had the shortest time to be added on.
For a while, it looked like he might be on for an upset win. He had to remain within 30ish seconds of the leading pack. He drove well but couldn’t keep up.
Meanwhile, Baird charged through the field, passing many cars on track to take the win on track and the win after stop times had been added.
Nathan Antunes and Elliot Barbour (Mclaren) took second, and on the car’s debut, John Martin and Aaron Tebb took third in the Porsche. Klark Quinn, in the end took fourth and Rullo was classified ninth.
Race results
Race 1
1 JAMEC PEM Racing Steve McLaughlan (VIC) Audi R8 LMS 54 01:02:11.6498
2 DPO Nathan Morcom McLaren 650S GT3 54 01:02:16.5103
3 Supabarn Supermarkets J.Koundouris/M.Marshall Audi R8 LMS 54 01:02:16.6132
4 Darrell Lea Klark Quinn (QLD) McLaren 650S GT3 54 01:02:16.9935
5 JBS Australia Roger Lago (QLD) Lamborghini R-EX 54 01:02:17.9407
6 JAMEC PEM Racing M.Bonanomi/G.Emery Audi R8 LMS 54 01:02:19.3580
7 Walkinshaw GT3 J.Martin/A.Tebb Porsche 911 GT3-R 54 01:02:20.7807
8 Darrell Lea Tony Quinn (QLD) Aston Martin Vantage 54 01:02:25.5531
9 Taplin Real Estate A.Taplin/D.Canto Lamborghini Gallardo 54 01:02:30.5363
10 Objective Racing Tony Walls (QLD) McLaren 650S GT3 54 01:02:36.7043
11 Scott Taylor Motorsport S.Taylor/C.Baird Mercedes Benz AMG GT 54 01:02:37.2518
12 Interlloy M Motorsport J.McMillan/G.Wood Lamborghini R-EX 54 01:02:38.4340
13 Beechwood / SLR / Buildmap N.Antunes/E.Barbour McLaren 650S GT3 53 01:02:15.6908
14 McLaren Melbourne J.Webb/M.Kingsley McLaren 650S GT3 53 01:02:24.2197
15 GT Motorsport G.Taylor/B.Mawer Audi R8 LMS 53 01:02:28.7977
16 Exotic Track Days R.Harris/S.Hookey Mercedes AMG GT3 SLS 53 01:03:05.5257
17 Bondi Wholefoods Ash Samadi (VIC) Mercedes Benz AMG SLS 52 01:02:39.7485
18 Performance West Peter Rullo (WA) Lamborghini Gallardo 52 01:02:40.1693
19 SR Motorsport S.Richards/M.Twigg BMW M6 GT3 51 01:02:45.6651
20 Modena Engineering Ricky Capo (VIC) BMW Z4 GT3 50 01:02:14.4444
Race 2
1 Scott Taylor Motorsport S.Taylor/C.Baird Mercedes Benz AMG GT 33 01:03:12.0557
2 Beechwood / SLR / Buildmap N.Antunes/E.Barbour McLaren 650S GT3 33 01:03:19.8055
3 Walkinshaw GT3 J.Martin/A.Tebb Porsche 911 GT3-R 33 01:03:23.4764
4 Darrell Lea Klark Quinn (QLD) McLaren 650S GT3 33 01:03:23.6377
5 McLaren Melbourne J.Webb/M.Kingsley McLaren 650S GT3 33 01:03:27.4728
6 DPO Nathan Morcom McLaren 650S GT3 33 01:03:28.1564
7 Interlloy M Motorsport J.McMillan/G.Wood Lamborghini R-EX 33 01:03:29.8135
8 GT Motorsport G.Taylor/B.Mawer Audi R8 LMS 33 01:03:36.4440
9 Performance West Peter Rullo (WA) Lamborghini Gallardo 33 01:03:38.2041
10 Supabarn Supermarkets J.Koundouris/M.Marshall Audi R8 LMS 33 01:03:39.1995
11 Objective Racing Tony Walls (QLD) McLaren 650S GT3 33 01:03:42.5315
12 JBS Australia Roger Lago (QLD) Lamborghini R-EX 33 01:03:43.3463
13 Exotic Track Days R.Harris/S.Hookey Mercedes AMG GT3 SLS 33 01:03:45.0020
14 Darrell Lea Tony Quinn (QLD) Aston Martin Vantage 33 01:03:47.1005
15 Modena Engineering Ricky Capo (VIC) BMW Z4 GT3 33 01:03:51.5311
16 Taplin Real Estate A.Taplin/D.Canto Lamborghini Gallardo 33 01:03:54.0070
17 JAMEC PEM Racing Stephen McLaughlan (VIC) Audi R8 LMS 33 01:04:01.9382
18 SR Motorsport S.Richards/M.Twigg BMW M6 GT3 33 01:04:25.9004
19 Bondi Wholefoods Ash Samadi (VIC) Mercedes Benz AMG SL 32 01:03:42.2006
DNF JAMEC PEM Racing Geoff Emery (TAS) Audi R8 LMS
