Just days out from the opening round of the 2015 Australian GT Championship, comes news of yet another new entry into the hotly contested series, an entry which is sure to attract plenty of attention from the fans and the media; the new DPM Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro of Melbourne’s Dale Paterson.

Paterson is no stranger to Australian GT having contested a couple of rounds of the 2014 championship in a Trophy Class Mosler MT900, but whilst the Victorian admitted that he loved the competition – and particularly the street circuits – he was a little frustrated by the reliability of the ageing British built sportscar.

“We actually had a pretty good run with the Mosler, but it just didn’t have all the nice things that a current GT3 car enjoys like traction control, ABS, paddle-shift and all the modern electronics, so it was always going to be a challenge,” Paterson admitted.

“Late last year I started to hear rumours that Justin McMillan was going to bring one of the new Reiter Engineering built Camaro GT3s into the country, and that got my attention.

“Not only did the car suit what I was looking for in a race car, but it was priced right, and as an aftermarket tuner of predominantly Chev-based performance engines, it was also a perfect fit for the DPM Motorsports business.

“Once it was clear I was serious, Justin used his connections with Reiter to arrange a test day in the car at Adria in Italy, and I flew across with Steve Richards and Inky Tulloch to test the car.. after that I was hooked.”

To further immerse himself in the Camaro program, Paterson flew to New Zealand for the final round of Australian GT to witness the car’s debut in the series at the hands of car-owner Tulloch and his new co-driver Craig Lowndes.

“I was glad that I made the trip to Highlands, because that gave me some fantastic insights into the way the car worked, and Craig [Lowndes] was very generous with his time,” Paterson reflected.

“It was the first time the car had run in the southern hemisphere, so we were all keen to see how it would compare to the cars that have been the benchmark in Australia over the last 12-months, and it was impressive.

“The biggest thing I found was just how much you could throw it around, and how good it was on it’s tyres, something we’ve since proven ourselves in testing here.”

With McMillan also electing to campaign the Camaro in the 2015 season, Paterson also had additional technical support from M-Motorsport, but McMillan’s generosity wasn’t about to end there..

“I’d decided to campaign the car myself for the coming season, and look around for a co-driver for the enduros,” Paterson admitted. “But then Justin called me and asked me if I’d like to run with Steve [Richards] this year, and I just couldn’t say no.

“Steve has been fantastic. He shook the car down at Phillip Island where we ran old tyres and suffered a slight technical glitch, and when I took it to Winton for a full shakedown, he was on the phone constantly checking in and offering advice, he was genuinely excited.

“He believes that if we get the car sorted well enough – with assistance from Tomas Enge (McMillan’s co-driver) and Reiter themselves (the car’s manufacturer is sending engineers) – then there’s no reason why we couldn’t be mixing it with the leaders, especially around a circuit like Adelaide with its long straights and slow speed corners, that will really suit the Camaro and it’s incredible torque.”

“Look, I think that of all the circuits that Australian GT compete on, Clipsal is the one where I feel it will be strongest,” Richards admitted. “Having driven it a few times now, it just blows me away with how quick it is in a straight line, and there’s a few of those at Clipsal..

“It’s a pity though that Clipsal is our first event, because it’s still a relatively unsorted car in many respects, and this will be the first chance that the M-Motorsport and DPM Motorsports teams will have had to compete with the car, so there will be a lot to learn. From my perspective the first aim has to be to get the car home in one piece, and ensure that Dale gets plenty of miles and we gain valuable data.

“It’s going to be worthwhile having Tomas [Enge] in town too, because he will prove a valuable asset with all the running he’s done in the car in Thailand and Europe, but we have to remember that unlike the Ferraris, the Lamborghinis and the SLS, this car is still very raw but I’d expect as the season goes on and the development continues, it will become one very competitive race car. Whether that’s at Clipsal or not, I guess we’ll soon find out!”