There may still be five weeks until the official opening round of the 2015 Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli, but already the Clipsal 500 grid is filled to capacity, and 32 series entrants have locked away their entry for the full six round season!
“The off-season always provides plenty of discussion about who’s in, and who’s not.” Australian GT Category Manager Ken Collier admitted. “Since before the close of the 2014 season though, the phone just hasn’t stopped ringing, in fact prior to Christmas I had a tentative field of entries of almost 50..!
“Series entries have now closed, and I’m overjoyed to confirm that we have 32 confirmed series entries, and we had 41 entrants for the opening round in Clipsal.
“Unfortunately we’ve had to turn some entrants away for that event because the grid has been capped at 34 cars..
“The entries for 2015 are beyond expectations and are proof that the Australian GT Championship is the leading support category to the V8 Supercars, and the best endurance series in Australia.
“Not only have our 2014 competitors returned, but in many cases they have purchased new cars and in some cases upgraded their existing cars to current FIA spec.”
Season 2014 saw all GT3 entries capped at 2013 FIA-spec, however that rule has been changed for the 2015 season allowing both 2014 and 2015 specification cars to compete.
“We did that last year at the request of the competitors,” Collier confirmed. “Most didn’t want to be forced to upgrade equipment which they’d bought new in 2013. As it turned out, the worldwide growth of GT3 meant that there wasn’t enough older-spec cars on then market and some manufacturers had new models homologated prior to the end of 2014, so we made the appropriate rule change for 2015.”
Whilst Australian GT continues its meteoric rise, there was one pending question that provided plenty of media attention late in the 2014 season, and that was with respect to the ownership of Australian GT.
“There was certainly some discussion late in the season about V8 Supercars taking over the series, however after much discussion over the off-season, I can confirm that series owner Tony Quinn is not selling AGT,” Collier confirmed.
From Tony Quinn’s perspective, he reiterated Colliers comments and added that he was very pleased with the way the series was coming along.
“Australian GT is all about the competitors, and whilst they’re enjoying themselves and the events, they’ll sign on to continue, so clearly we’re doing something right,” he admitted.
“I like the fact that we have so many new teams coming in this year, and am especially impressed to see that interest in our series is being taken internationally by some of the factory teams, so it’s all good, but I do need to remind people that Australian GT is built around the amateur drivers, guys like me that want to come and race and be competitive.
“We’re not V8 Supercars, and we don’t want fields of talented young drivers battling doorhandle-to-doorhandle at the front of the field racing for sheep stations, that’s not what we’re about, so whilst those guys coming in is good, I’m happier seeing that we’re attracting older guys like me from other categories who can appreciate just how good our series is.”
With just six weeks until the opening round on the streets of Adelaide, there is still some fine tuning to do with the regulations for the coming season to improve the racing yet again.
“Just like the international GT3 series, we review our regulations every year in order to try and improve the racing,” Collier explained.
“This year we have some serious cars and some very well credentialed drivers coming in. As a result we have to weigh up our compulsory pit stop [CPS] penalties, and look at the driver gradings, especially with some internationally recognised drivers and some former V8 Supercar stars joining the field.”
Pirelli will continue to be the naming rights sponsor of the Australian GT Championship, and the control tyre supplier with the successful record breaking DH compound tyre, whilst Darrell Lea, AHG Pty Ltd, ZMM and Mentum Design will also continue their support into 2015.
2015 Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli
Rnd#1 – 26 February-1 March, Clipsal 500, Adelaide, SA*
Rnd#2 – 22-24 May, Phillip Island, Victoria**
Rnd#3 – 10-12 July, Townsville, Queensland*
Rnd#4 – 21-23 August, Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW*
Rnd#5 – 11-13 September, Sandown 500, Melbourne, Victoria*
Rnd#6 – 13-15 November, Highlands Motorsport Park, Cromwell, NZ
(* with V8 Supercars, ** with the Shannons Nationals)
The 2014 Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli is proudly supported by Pirelli, AHG Ltd, Darrell Lea, Z Motorsport Memorabilia ands Mentum Design.