A BUMPER field comprising 11 manufacturers will line up for this weekend’s opening round of the 2015 Australian GT Championship in Adelaide at the Clipsal 500 – the perfect way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the category.
A capacity grid of 34 cars – including 19 cars in the Championship Class – has entered for the first round, a massive leap forward from the championship’s early days.
This weekend marks the return of Australian GT to the streets of Adelaide for the first time since 2013 considering it did not compete at last year’s Clipsal 500 event.
Erebus Motorsport won the last AGT round in Adelaide two years ago with Craig Baird and this year the reigning AGT Champions return with a new driver line-up.
2014 Australian GT Champion Richard Muscat has moved on, opening the door for former V8 Supercar Development Series driver Morgan Haber to drive one car and fellow former DVS pilot Geoff Emery to team with three-time Porsche Carrera Cup Elite Class champion Max Twigg in the other SLS AMG GT3.
V8 Supercar veteran Steven Johnson will make his first Australian GT start since co-driving with John Teulan at the 2007 Sandown GT Classic.
Johnson will be part of a two-car Jamec Pem Racing Audi program, sharing the #75 entry with team owner Steve McLaughlan.
German factory driver Christopher Mies will share the #74 car with 2006 Australian GT Champion Greg Crick, who returns to the class after competing in recent years in Touring Car Masters.
Also Audi-mounted will be Peter Fitzgerald and Nathan Antunes in Rod Salmon’s Beechwood Homes-backed R8 LMS Ultra.
Absent from the opening round will be Maranello Motorsport with its Ferrari and Flying B Racing Bentley Continential both damaged at the recent Bathurst 12 Hour.
There will be Ferraris on the grid though with Kiwis Jono Lester and Paul Kelly pairing up and Adrian Detiz joined by Cameron McConville in another 458 Italia.
Two thumping, Reiter Engineering-produced Camaros will compete together for the first time, Justin McMillian joined by former Formula 1 driver Czech Tomas Enge, while Dale Paterson is joined by three-time Bathurst 1000 winner Steve Richards.
The new McLaren 650S will debut in the hands of 2013/2014 AGT Championship runner-up Tony Quinn while Tony Walls moves across from Carrera Cup to also drive one of the new sleek McLarens.
Two-time AGT Champion Klark Quinn will remain in his familiar MP4-12C for the Adelaide opener.
Adelaide-based racer Dean Canto will share an Aston Martin with another local Andrew Taplin while James Koundouris and Andrew MacPherson/James Winslow will both pilot Porsche GT3-Rs.
John Magro and Ross Lilley will pilot Lamborghinis while Michael Hovey will pilot the Ginetta G55.
Former AGT Champion team Wall Racing will make a return to the class this year.
Team owner David Wall will be busy with his Volvo V8 Supercar commitments in Adelaide, though the team will run a recently acquired Audi R8 LMS in the Trophy Class for Greg Taylor and Barton Mawer.
They’ll be up against reigning Sports Class champion Mark Griffith in another Audi R8 LMS as well as reigning Challenge Class champion Ben Foessel (Ginetta G50Z), Kevin Weeks (Ford GT), Jan Jinadasa (Lamborghini), Brenton Griguol (Ferrari F430) and the Porsches of Danny Studderd, Simon Ellingham/Warren Luff, Simon McLennan/Tim Macrow, John Goodacre and Theo Koundouris.
The Challenge Class honours will be a fight between the Porsches of Brendan Cook/Matt Kingsley, Richard Gartner and Michael O’Donnell and the Lotus Exige Cup R of Tony Alford.
Round 1 of the Australian GT Championship will be contested over three races – two on Saturday (including a one-hour race at the end of the day where co-drivers are permitted) and one on Sunday morning.
This year’s AGT will be contested over six rounds with the Adelaide round the first of four at V8 Supercars Championship events.