Mark Griffith and Jack Perkins left the fourth round of the Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli with the points lead after two impressive class wins at Sydney Motorsport Park, aided by playing their ‘joker’ card for the weekend which allowed them to double their points haul.
With title rivals Michael Hovey and Tony Martin teaming up at Queensland Raceway, the pressure was on the Vawdrey Trailers supported Ginetta team to maintain their winning streak after the Hovey/Martin combination elected to play the ‘joker’ at home.
The duo started strongly with Perkins claiming the top spot for the GT4 Sports class, his 1:14.6072 lap, more than two seconds up on Hovey, but only a second and a half quicker than Griffith.
“I think all those laps last weekend in the Aussie Racing Cars in my new EuroGT helped,” Griffith reflected, “although Jack had a win in the V8 Supercar Development Series too, so he was pretty sharp as well..”
Griffith started the car for the first 40-minute race and he quickly set about breaking away from Martin in the second Ginetta and new GT recruit Darrell Dixon in the R35 Skyline.
As the compulsory pit stop [CPS] window approached, Griffith moved ahead of George Foessel in the Challenge class Porsche to be 14th ahead of his CPS, Perkins rejoining between Martin and Dixon.
Firing off a string of laps in the 1:15s, Perkins soon hauled Martin in, taking him for position ten laps from home, the young Victorian then moving past John Modystach and George Foessel before the line, although his final lap saw a brave move around the outside in turn one after Darrell Dixon cut in front of him on the way into the corner.
“I got him on the way out of the final turn, but then he powered past me with all that horsepower and 4WD into turn one, just as I ranged up on one of the Porsches. He hit the anchors to slow down, and I knew he’d hold me up, so I thought bugger it, I’ll go the long way around..!”
Race two would see Perkins starting the #19 Ginetta from the inside of the seventh row, and the V8 Supercar part-timer drew on all his experience in the testing conditions to push some of the less experienced drivers early, moving inside the top ten on lap three.
From there he went into full ‘giant killer’ mode, picking off Challenge class and Trophy class cars at will to hit the pits for his CPS from position five.
Sadly though, like many of the cars who pitted late, he dropped a lap to the leader courtesy of a Safety Car period which began just as the window opened. From there it was just a matter of making it to the finish, car-owner Griffith crossing the line in eighth place, three positions up on the Hovey/Martin car.
“That was a lot of fun,” he declared afterwards. “Can we do it again..!”
Off the fourth row for the final race, Griffith held position early, but was ultimately swamped by the more powerful Challenge class and Trophy class cars, dropping back to 11th by the close of lap two.
From there he settled into a rhythm and worked his way forward to ninth to hand over to Perkins.
Rejoining in P11 Perkins worked his way forward again to catch and pass Challenge class points leader Ben Foessel in the Porsche three laps from home, ultimately crossing the line in 11th position.
“Boy I’d love a little bit more horsepower,” Perkins lamented. “These things are so much fun to drive, they just need a little more power. Either that or a few more teams to go head-to-head with, although it is fun mixing it with the more powerful cars. It must drive them mad when we shoot past them under brakes, or underneath them in a corner – we just can’t stop them in a straight line though, but it makes for a fun race.”
Despite winning all three races and taking maximum points for the weekend, the winners trophy went to Hovey and Martin by virtue of playing their ‘joker’ card.
“It’s made things interesting heading into the final two races in New Zealand,” Griffith admitted. “I’ve got a seven point lead over Jack, whilst Hoves is just nine points further back, and with only two 40-minute races remaining and 110 points on offer, it’s by no means a done deal. I’m really looking forward to the final, it’s going to be a ripper!”
The final round of the Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli is scheduled for the new Highlands Motorsport Park circuit in New Zealand November 8-10.
Source : Australian GT