The drama of the 2015 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12-Hour was on par with some of the world’s greatest endurance races, yet despite a record 20 Safety Car periods (previous record was 13), and some incredible on track action which saw a number of leading teams sidelined, the twin Equity-One supported Jamec-Pem Audis finished strongly, claiming fourth and fifth in class in the process.
Exedra Motorsport’s Dean Koutsoumidis and James Winslow joined Jamec-Pem Racing team-boss Steve McLaughlan in the #75 Audi R8 LMS ultra for the event, McLaughlan contesting his maiden Bathurst 12-Hour race, whilst in the second, almost identical Jamec-Pem Audi, were experienced Bathurst campaigners Warren Luff and Greg Crick who were joined by young European star Alessando Latif.
Latif of course was Winslow’s team-mate in the Equity-One supported Greaves Motorsport Zytek LMP2 at Le Mans last year and no stranger to the Audi R8 as he showed from opening practice.
Before the 12-Hour action got underway however there were media and sponsor commitments to attend to, and Dean Koutsoumidis admitted that it was one very special event..
“Audi Australia had a big launch in Sydney which was pretty impressive,” Koutsoumidis admitted. “Joining the factory drivers like Laurens Vanthoor, Stephane Ortelli and Markus Winkelhock was a thrill, but for me, it was Felix Baumgartner – the man who fell from space [Red Bull Stratos] in 2012 – who inspired me. He was installed in the #16 Pheonix Racing Audi for the 12-Hour and happy to talk about his racing and his experiences, a lovely bloke.
“After that though it was straight to Bathurst and game on..
“Typically James was fast, but as he did through 2014, he focused on getting Steve and I up to speed. Happily I was faster around Bathurst than I’d ever been before, but unlike some of the rockstars – including our team-mates in the #74 – we weren’t looking for a stunning qualifying lap, just getting comfortable with car on race fuel and race tyres.
“Despite that James put in some blinders to show what the car was truly capable of, but as a package we were pretty happy post qualifying and right behind our Melbourne Performance Centre team-mates and 2014 Australian GT Trophy Class rival, Rod Salmon.”
“It’s funny, the bulk of the MPC drivers were caught in a similar position,” Winslow admitted post qualifying. “I had just completed my first quick lap in the second 20-minute session to get my tyres up to temperature, and like Oliver Gavin in the Skwirk car, was caught out by the red flag incident with four minutes to go, so we didn’t have a chance to show what we were really capable of. That said, 12-hours is a long time, so provided we get through turn one okay, there’s plenty of time to chip away at it.”
“James started the car and he was quickly up the order,” Koutsoumidis recounted. “He caught the #74 car by lap 23, and they had a few spirited moments – notably going through turn two side-by-side, before James got through and moved up to eighth before he hit the pits to refuel and hand over to me. Then the action started.. I have no idea how many Safety Car periods I sat through, but in the end I did two hours and 40 minutes for my first stint, and almost two hours for my second, so plenty of laps.
“Steve did a bloody good job for his first time at the 12-Hour, and we just kept creeping up the order, but the Safety Car interventions wreaked havoc on our track position, and ultimately across the 20 Safety Car periods we lost two laps, which cost us a finishing position inside the top ten and a possible podium, but that’s the way it works.
“James did a superb job again to close out the race, and he alone moved us up the order and kept us ahead of his Le Mans team-mate Latif over the closing laps. It was great watching him behind the leaders heading down to the final stages. They were battling for a race win, yet James stuck right with them and didn’t lose an inch, in fact at one stage I thought he was going to move back past them!
“In the end he was forced to let the chasing pack through because he was a couple of laps down on them, but to see how quick that MPC/Jamec Pem Audi was so late in the race was testament to the work of the whole team.”
Ultimately the #75 McLaughlan/Koutsoumidis/Winslow entry was classified 12th outright – fourth in Class A-Am, and fourth Australian team home, the Jamec-Pem team closing out the race together with the #74 car classified 13th.
“It was certainly the toughest 12-Hour race I’ve ever been a part of, but at the same time, memorable, but I have to admit that I’m a little bit sad three weeks out from the opening round of Australian GT where I’ll be a spectator for the first time in many years..”
Whilst Koutsoumidis will sit out the bulk of the Australian GT Championship to concentrate on an LMP2 prototype drive later in the year, he does expect to make ‘guest’ appearances at the Phillip Island and Highlands endurance rounds. Meanwhile team-mate Winslow will compete in Australian GT this season, alongside Andrew Macpherson in the IMAK Porsche GT3-R, a car not too dissimilar to that which he’ll race in the European Le Mans Series in 2015 with Gulf Racing.