2013 has seen a hectic schedule for a guy that calls himself a ‘Gentleman Racer’.. Mark Griffith has juggled a busy schedule with the Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli with his Aussie Racing Car campaign, a schedule that has seen the calendars clash at times during the year, but despite his ‘part-time’ effort, the popular Queensland transport operator is never without a wide grin, and now has his name etched in the history annals as an Australian Champion.

“How good is that,” he laughed hugging anyone in the Highlands Motorsport Park pit lane that couldn’t get away. “I’m just rapt. We’ve worked hard all year to get to this point, and after huge dramas at both Bathurst and Clipsal, to bounce back like this and claim the championship is testament to the belief that you should never give up!”

Coming into the final round of the championship with a minor points buffer over early series leader – fellow Ginetta pilot Michael Hovey – Griffith and team-mate Jack Perkins knew that they had to be on their game on the tricky new 4.1-kilometre circuit, and whilst Perkins was predictably quick, Griffith’s times were under attack from Hovey as the two final 40-minute races approached.

By the mid-point of race one however, the championship looked all but sealed after Hovey rolled to a stop mid lap with flames bellowing from beneath the car. Whilst it looked far worse than it was – an oil plug had come loose in the gearbox and the flames were quickly extinguished – it eliminated any chance he had to narrow the points deficit.

Unfortunately though for the Vawdrey Trailers/IVECO Ginetta duo, they weren’t out of the wars either, however they finished albeit very slowly.

“We installed a bigger fuel tank for the 101 race, and it doesn’t appear to be feeding all the contents to the engine,” Griffith explained post-race. “Jack was basically on fumes when he finished, so we’ll go away and have a look at it and see what we can do ahead of tomorrow’s second race.”

Race two provided Perkins with a chance to bolt away at the start, latching onto some of the faster cars in the field as he had done so many times during the season, the V8 Supercar part-timer handing the car back to its owner with a handy lead, Griffith crossing the line in 12th place, in the process securing the Australian GT Sports Class title.

“That’s just brilliant,” he beamed in celebration. “Jack did a brilliant job every time he got in the car and the championship title is as much his as mine – but he’s not getting that trophy.. and the team have been brilliant too, I couldn’t have done any of this without them.”

“I’m just rapt for Griffo,” Perkins added. “I had a ball driving the Ginetta all year, and to pay back someone who has been there in the background helping me over the years secure a title, is reward enough for me. Now it’s on to the Highlands 101.”

Whilst three Ginetta’s started the final round of the championship, only one made it through to the invitational feature race – the #19 Vawdrey Trailers/IVECO Griffth/Perkins entry – both Michael Hovey and Tony Martin out with damage sustained during the two AGT races. Sadly for Hovey his car succumbed to the damage sustained from the opening race fire,  whilst Martin’s entry was involved in a fairly heavy hit with the Southern Loop wall during race two.

Whilst that proved to be bad news for his stable-mates, it ultimately aided the AGT championship winning team to complete the 101-lap Highlands invitational after Mark Griffith suffered a broken axle off the start.

Perkins had qualified the car an impressive 18th, just eight seconds in arrears from the significantly more powerful GT3 cars, but with a 250-metre ‘Le Mans’ style foot race ahead of one driver to kick the ‘101’ event into gear, Griffith elected to start leaving Perkins with the run.

He made up a number of positions as he made his way to the back of the #19 Ginetta, at which point the car controller gave Griffith the signal to go.

“I may have been a bit heavy with the right boot,” Griffith joked afterwards. “The axle went pretty much off the start, so we came back into pit lane and all the Ginetta teams worked to swap our broken unit with a part from one of the other cars. We lost about 12 laps or so in the pits, but after that it was fine and we managed to pick up a few places and recover for 19th. In the process Jack took another seven tenths off his fastest time just to prove how quick the car is..

“It has been a fantastic weekend here in New Zealand. The facility is first class, the venue is outstanding, and the result for our whole team has made it all the better. On top of that I also won two years free membership to the exclusive Highlands Members Club by virtue of amassing the most points of any driver in any of the classes for the championship.. it just gets better and better.

“Now we’ll go away and regroup ahead of the final round of the Aussie Racing Cars Series, and be ready for the new season of GT, which has an outstanding calendar – I just hope we can come back and defend the title. Whatever happens though, we’ll certainly make it a year worth remembering!!”