The M-Motorsport Interlloy Camaro GT3 team came into the second round of the 2015 Australian GT Championship with high expectations on the back of a strong test session at the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit in the weeks prior to the three-hour endurance race, and whilst the program was running to plan early, a late race mechanical issue kept them from an almost certain top ten finish.
“It’s still only early days with the car, and the development program continues, but we were running well and truly on target for a top ten finish before the car failed to shift down from top gear late in the race,” M-Motorsport team-boss Justin McMillan confirmed.
“I’d had a strong start, and actually led into my compulsory pit stop [laughs] – although that was because everyone else had already completed their stops, but I was around the tail of the top ten in the 35-car field, so I was pretty happy with my pace.
“I handed the car over to my new co-driver Jack Le Brocq, and he was immediately on the pace as he had been in qualifying, working his was up to eleventh before the gearbox issue.”
Earlier in the weekend Le Brocq had set an impressive pace through practice and qualifying to be one of the fastest ‘Pro’ drivers in the field, the Erebus Motorsport V8 Supercar recruit ultimately qualifying fifth in his session just half a second behind V8 Supercar regulars James Moffat and Tony D’Alberto.
“I had a blast in the Camaro,” Le Brocq admitted. “It was very different to the SLS I drove in the past, and probably more like my V8 Supercar. Realistically Phillip Island isn’t best suited to the Camaro, it is more a point-and-shoot kind of car, better suited to a street circuit like Clipsal or Townsville because the aero isn’t as sophisticated as some of the European GT thoroughbreds, but that said, it wasn’t far off.
“The M-Motorsport team in conjunction with Reiter Engineering are still going through a development phase, so there’s still a few little things they’re working on, but you could see how impressive it is as a race car.
“Sadly with weather and red flag incidents, we didn’t get to complete much running in practice as a race simulation, so we lost out a little on a full fuel load, but outside of that and the gearbox issue, the car was faultless.
“In the end we couldn’t do much with the gearbox. I could feel the issue coming on for about five to ten laps, and in the end it just wouldn’t shift down from sixth gear, so it was game over from there.
“Now it’s on to Townsville which is a circuit I enjoy, and a circuit much better suited to the Camaro, so keep an eye out for the #48 orange and black Interlloy car, we might just surprise a few people!”
The third round of the Australian GT Championship will be held on the streets of Townsville on the 10-12 July where Justin McMillan will make his second appearance, and Le Brocq will campaign both the Interlloy Camaro and his Development Series V8 Supercar.