Equity-One Motorsport’s Dean Koutsoumidis and Andrew McInnes continue to maintain a position just shy of the top five in the Australian GT series despite campaigning one of the oldest Championship cars in the field, and they continue to punch above their weight at almost every outing. For the fourth round of the 2013 Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli, they come into Sydney Motorsport Park perhaps better prepared than in any previous round having competed recently in a State Series round at the venue, claiming a podium finish for their efforts. Or rather.. “For HIS efforts..” a frustrated Andrew McInnes added.
“I’m riding to Sydney in the car inside the transporter, that way I get the first practice session,” he laughed with a trace of truth to his jibe at team-mate Koutsoumidis who competed at SMP alone in the short heat races.
“There’s no way I’m buying dinner on Saturday night!” he explained in reference to the penalty that the slowest of the two drivers receives post-qualifying. “I’m over it..!”
During a recent round of the NSW State Series, Koutsoumidis joined fellow Audi pilot Rod Salmon at SMP for some valuable miles ahead of the fourth round of the national championship, running a close second overall to the former owner of the #71 Audi R8 LMS, and beating him in one race in the wet conditions.
“Unfortunately it was wet for the bulk of the weekend, so if it rains, we’re a shoe-in,” Koutsoumidis laughed. “Honestly any miles are valuable, and given that we hadn’t raced at Eastern Creek in the Audi, it was valuable extra miles for me, and to come away with second overall behind Rod was fantastic.”
The weekend also gave the Equity-One crew the first chance to work closely with the Melbourne Performance Centre team who from Eastern Creek forwards will run the team’s Audi R8 in the remainder of the Australian Championship.
“We’ve had a fantastic run with Minda Motorsport over the last few seasons,” Dean Koutsoumidis explained, “and I will be continuing to run with them in various Formula Ford events to keep sharp, but in the end, logistically it was better for all of us to join the MPC team and take advantage of the fact that they’re only running one Audi this season.
“As the Audi Customer Racing representatives in Australia, all our spares and technical support come through them anyway, and with Minda’s burgeoning Formula Ford and V8 Supercar Development Series commitments, it worked for everyone.
“For me I wouldn’t have been competing in GT like this if it wasn’t for all the support that Bruin [Beasley] and the Minda team gave me, so I can’t thank them enough.
“For now though it’s back to Sydney, and I have to say I’m excited. Andrew and I have had some pretty consistent runs this years as other drivers have fallen off around us. With the extra miles I had last month I’d expect to be quicker more consistently, and with no driver seeding penalties for either of us, we might just surprise a few people this weekend..
“That win I had over Rod in the rain too has made me hungry.. I quite liked the taste of victory. Roll on Friday!”
Source : Australian GT