It was a dramatic opening day of action during the penultimate round of the Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli, with a number of high profile incidents book-ending a day that was once again dominated by the Interlloy Lamborghini of Justin McMillan.

Joined by V8 Supercar part-timer David Russell in place of M-Motorsport’s regular driver – Bathurst 1000 champion – Steve Richards, the local Lamborghini team claimed their third pole of the year with a shattering 1:08.8147 lap to eclipse Richard’s standing qualifying lap record set in March [1:09.5087].

Whilst Russell’s lap was impressive, and his battle with points leader Richard Muscat was enthralling, qualifying will perhaps be better remembered for the championship ending accident involving reigning champion Klark Quinn late in the session.

The normally reserved dual-Australian champion was quieter than normal post-session as he reviewed his broken Darrell Lea McLaren MP4-12C which was missing it’s front left wheel.. Details were sketchy, but it appears Quinn came off on the run down to Dandenong Road corner and clipped the Armco fence on the inside of the circuit on the way into the corner, which broke the left front upright, speering the car across the circuit and into the gravel trap.

Quinn was unharmed, but visibly shaken by the incident, one of few he’d had during his career. “I’m okay..” was all he could offer.

The Brett Francis led VIP Petfoods team were quick to diagnose the car, and whilst usually able to produce some level of magic, they felt that there was too little time to effect the necessary repairs, reluctantly putting the car back into the transporter.

Sadly for Quinn he was running strongly, admitting earlier in the weekend that he’d never felt more comfortable. He wasn’t the only high profile casualty though, practice one claiming points leader Richard Muscat early in the session, the Erebus Motorsport GT driver spinning on the exit of the final turn, and hard into the Armco barriers.

“It was my fault,” he admitted with frustration. “It turned out we had a right rear tyre failure after I ran over a screw in the paddock on the way to the grid, but it coincided with a traction-control issue too. It spun me around on the exit, and I was just a passenger.”

Damage was mostly superficial, and the crack Barry Ryan led crew were soon effecting repairs, getting the car out just in time for qualifying where he was once more in the wars, making contact with Russell in the Lamborghini – who had just left the pit lane – on the run into turn two, Russell moving across to the apex whilst Muscat was on a hot lap, unaware that the Mercedes was closing on him so quickly.

The contact bent the Mercedes steering, ultimately impacting Muscat’s challenge on pole. “I felt the car had a 1:08 in it, but after the contact, the steering wasn’t right and I just couldn’t push it as hard as I wanted,” the young Victorian admitted.

In the end Russell was too good, taking the pole just three tenths clear of Muscat, with Klark Quinn classified third ahead of his off track excursion. John Bowe put the Bathurst 12-Hour winning Ferrari fourth ahead of a stunning drive by James Winslow in the Trophy Class, Equity-One Motorsport Audi R8 LMS. What was more impressive for the team though was car owner Dean Koutsoumidis’ pace, the former Trophy Class champion setting a stunning 1:10.8343 to be fifth fastest in practice one, just four tenths off the pace of Muscat in the Mercedes..!

“I’m pretty happy with that,” Koutsoumidis beamed post-session. The result also provided valuable bragging rights in the Trophy Class battle with Melbourne Performance Centre team-mates Rod Salmon and Nathan Antunes who ultimately finished half a second shy of the Equity-One team in eighth.

Sydney Motorsport Park round winner Tony Quinn qualified sixth in the VIP Petfoods Aston Martin Vantage, the title contender admitting that he’s more comfortable racing than qualifying, whilst seventh was opening practice pace-setter John Morriss in the GT3 Factory Porsche GT3-R that had taken the 2013 GT Asia Series crown.

Behind the Salmon/Antunes Skwirk.com.au Audi R8 LMS was the third car in the MPC stable – the Ockert Fourie/John Magro Audi R8 LMS – in ninth place, with the Trofeo Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia of Jim Manolios and Ryan Millier an impressive tenth.

“We had an interesting time during practice,” Millier explained post-qualifying.. “The front of the car was bouncing up and down during heavy braking and we thought we had a suspension problem, but it seems it was a ride height issue coupled with the bumpy Sandown surface, so we were able to fix it for qualifying.”

Ross Lilley was the first car outside the top ten after qualifying, the former GT race winner joining the early list of casualties after making contact with the armco at turn four in session one, centre-punching the railing with the front of the once-pristine Gallardo. “That’s never happened to me on an out-lap before,” he shrugged. Fortunately the M-Motorsport team were carrying plenty of spares, although repair work did cost the team valuable laps in practice two.

Matt Kingsley put the Walz Group Porsche Cup Car of Brendan Cook on pole for Challenge class, out-qualifying points leader Ben Foessel by six tenths of a second, whilst Tony Martin got the better of reigning GT Sports champion Mark Griffith in the battle of the Ginetta G50s to claim the top spot ahead of the three 40-minute races scheduled across the coming weekend.

Saturday sees two 40-minutes compulsory pit stop race scheduled, the first of which gets underway at 10:55am, whilst race three will be contested at 11:05 Sunday morning, immediately ahead of the annual V8 Supercar Sandown 500.

The fifth round of the Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli will be televised on Channel 7 in the coming weeks (time to be advised).

SCHEDULE (AEST)
Saturday, 13 September
Race #1 – 10:55am (40-minutes)
Race #2 – 1:35pm (40-minutes)

Sunday, 14 September
Race #3 – 11:05am (40-minutes)

AUSTRALIAN GT AND SANDOWN PARK
The Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli has already competed at Melbourne’s Sandown Park during the opening round of the season back in late March. On that occasion AGT rookie Richard Muscat dominated the event, winning both 60-minute races – the first from rear of field after failing to record a time in qualifying.

During the event reigning Bathurst 1000 champion Steve Richards set pole in the M-Motorsport Lamborghini Gallardo (1:09.5087), whilst Richard Muscat established a new race lap record during race two – 1:09.5639.

The Australian GT Championship had competed at Sandown on four prior occasions; 2007 (won by Allan Simonsen/Tim Leahey – Ferrari 430), 2008 (Allan Simonsen/Nick O’Halloran – Ferrari 430), 2011 (Tony Quinn – Mosler) and 2011 (Greg Crick – Dodge Viper).

WHERE TO WATCH..
Keep track of round five of the Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli from Sandown via the AGT website – www.australiangt.com.au and via Facebook; AustralianGT

Tickets are available through Ticketek via; premier.ticketek.com.au
Rnd#5 – 2014 Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli
Sandown Park Raceway, Melbourne – combined practice (12 September)
1. Justin McMillan/David Russell (GT – Gallardo FL2 GT3) – 1:09.4513R [P2]
2. John Bowe/Peter Edwards (GT – Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) – 1:10.0246 [P2]
3. Richard Muscat (GT – Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3) – 1:10.3457 [P1]
4. Klark Quinn (GT – McLaren MP4-12C) – 1:10.5169 [P2]
5. John Morriss (GT – Porsche GT3-R) – 1:10.5756 [P2]
6. Tony Quinn (GT – Aston Martin Vantage GT3) – 1:10.7626 [P2]
7. Dean Koutsoumidis/James Winslow (GTT – Audi R8 LMS GT3) – 1:10.8278 [P2]
8. Ockert Fourie/John Magro (GTT – Audi R8 LMS GT3) – 1:11.5084 [P1]
9. Rod Salmon/Nathan Antunes (GTT – Audi R8 LMS GT3) – 1:11.8053 [P1]
10. Michael Hovey/Matt Campbell (GTT – Porsche GT3 Cup) – 1:12.1815 [P1]
11. Steve McLaughlan (GT – Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra) – 1:12.2711 [P2]
12. Kevin Weeks (GTT – Ford GT) – 1:13.2649 [P2]
13. Andrew MacPherson (GT – Porsche 997 GT3-R) – 1:13.3560 [P1]
14. Brendan Cook/Matt Kingsley (GTC – Porsche GT3 Cup) – 1:13.5523 [P1]
15. Jan Jinadasa/Daniel Gaunt (GTT – Lamborghini Gallardo LP520) – 1:13.5807 [P2]
16. Ben Foessel (GTC – Porsche GT3 Cup) – 1:13.9706 [P2]
17. Jim Manolios/Ryan Millier (GT – Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) – 1:14.0307 [P1]
18. Simon Ellingham (GTT – Porsche Type 997 GT3 Cup) – 1:14.6993 [P2]
19. Indiran Padayachee (GTC – Porsche GT3 Cup) – 1:15.1623 [P1]
20. Tony Martin (GTS – Ginetta G50 GT4) – 1:19.9239 [P2]
21. Mark Griffith (GTS – Ginetta G50 GT4) – 1:20.3569 [P2]
22. Ross Lilley (GT – Gallardo FL2 GT3) – NTR

Qualifying (30-minutes, 12 September)
1. Justin McMillan/David Russell (GT – Gallardo FL2 GT3) – 1:08.8147R
2. Richard Muscat (GT – Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3) – 1:09.1171
3. Klark Quinn (GT – McLaren MP4-12C) – 1:09.1524
4. John Bowe/Peter Edwards (GT – Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) – 1:09.7005
5. Dean Koutsoumidis/James Winslow (GTT – Audi R8 LMS GT3) – 1:09.8012
6. Tony Quinn (GT – Aston Martin Vantage GT3) – 1:09.8252
7. John Morriss (GT – Porsche GT3-R) – 1:10.0165
8. Rod Salmon/Nathan Antunes (GTT – Audi R8 LMS GT3) – 1:10.1161
9. Ockert Fourie/John Magro (GTT – Audi R8 LMS GT3) – 1:10.7136
10. Jim Manolios/Ryan Millier (GT – Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) – 1:10.8003
11. Ross Lilley (GT – Gallardo FL2 GT3) – 1:10.9258
12. Michael Hovey/Matt Campbell (GTT – Porsche Type 997 GT3 Cup) – 1:10.9823
13. Steve McLaughlan (GT – Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra) – 1:11.2645
14. Jan Jinadasa/Daniel Gaunt (GTT – Lamborghini Gallardo LP520) – 1:11.8420
15. Andrew Macpherson (GT – Porsche 997 GT3-R) – 1:12.5006
16. Brendan Cook/Matt Kingsley (GTC – Porsche GT3 Cup) – 1:12.6912
17. Simon Ellingham (GTT – Porsche Type 997 GT3 Cup) – 1:13.0137
18. Kevin Weeks (GTT – Ford GT) – 1:13.3945
19. Ben Foessel (GTC – Porsche GT3 Cup) – 1:13.5643
20. Indiran Padayachee (GTC – Porsche GT3 Cup) – 1:14.2080
21. Tony Martin (GTS – Ginetta G50 GT4) – 1:18.4525
22. Mark Griffith (GTS – Ginetta G50 GT4) – 1:18.7871