Australian-based Miedecke Stone Motorsport [MSM] made it’s GT Asia Series debut at the former Aida Formula One circuit in Japan, the Aston Martin Racing outfit putting in a solid performance at Okayama against some of the most competitive teams in Asia.

Campaigning Australian GT points leader Nathan Morcom alongside MSM’s George Miedecke, the team proved to be competitive, however some technical challenges with the car across the three-day event forced them short of where they were expecting to be.

“We’ve really had very limited running with this car, and never run them on the Michelin tyre, nor in the kinds of conditions we’ve endured at Okayama,” team-boss Andrew Miedecke explained.

“Frustratingly we were hampered by what appeared initially to be a balance problem with the dynamics of the chassis, but ultimately it turned out to be a brake balance problem which Matt Stone and the team were quickly able to resolve, sadly though that highlighted another issue with the braking performance which ultimately meant the boys were unable to push the car as far as they needed to run with the lead pack.”

Despite the challenges, both Morcom and Miedecke were quickly up to speed on the relatively short 3.703-kilometre, 11-turn undulating circuit, but whilst capable of running at a very consistent speed, they were unable to find the valuable additional tenths that would put them in touch with the leaders.

Practice saw both drivers lapping consistently with the team finding extra pace every session to be classified 13th, and just half a second shy of reigning champion Darryl O’Young after three sessions on the opening day.

More work overnight to try and improve the braking performance netted an improvement of almost a second, with George Miedecke an impressive eleventh, just a second off the pole-sitting Bentley, whilst Morcom too improved to be seventh in his session, just six tenths slower than the points leading Ferrari.

More work on the performance of the car ahead of the opening 50-minute race saw an air of confidence from the MSM team, but a tough start saw them behind the eight-ball almost immediately.

“I had a pretty good start and was locked in behind the leaders, but one of the Porsches got into the back of the Jonathan Venter Bentley and turned him around, right in front of me,” Miedecke explained. “I had to get hard on the brakes, and by that stage, drive around the spinning car which dropped me well back from the lead pack. From there it was just a matter of punching out laps and getting some valuable data before pitting to hand over to Nathan.”

Morcom continued to punch out consistent laps to cross the line eleventh, just 15 seconds back from the Craft-Bamboo Racing team that had been so successful in the 2015 championship.

Morcom was back behind the wheel for the start of race two, and a strong start saw him locked in behind the leaders and challenging for a position in the top five. As the laps wound down towards the CPS though, the braking performance continued to hamper the young Sydney-based driver, but he continued to push, moving to sixth place ahead of the stop, a position Miedecke held after rejoining the field.

Things were looking good before a Safety Car intervention to recover the stricken Venter Bentley saw the field bunched up once more, allowing some of the Pro drivers to close onto the tail of the Aston, Miedecke doing his best to hold them out over the closing laps, but he could do nothing about the lack of braking performance, his rivals all claiming a position under brakes leaving the Port Macquarie local eleventh at the line.

After a tough initiation, the Miedecke Stone Motorsport team turn their attentions to Fuji in less than two weeks (15-17 July) where they will be looking to gain some more forward momentum on a circuit which features the longest straight in Asian motorsport.

What the drivers said;

George Miedecke (#95 Miedecke Stone Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3)
“It was a frustrating weekend to be honest, and we expected more. Sadly there is an inherent issue with the car that is affecting both our braking performance and our drive out of corners, two things the Vantage should be strong with. There was no denying the field was super-competitive and it was our first outing with those guys, but I still think we should have been good enough for a mid-field finish.”

Nathan Morcom (#95 Miedecke Stone Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3)
“I enjoyed the experience, but like George I was a little frustrated we couldn’t take the fight all the way through both races. Race two was great, I had a good start and stuck with the leaders early, but we just didn’t have the performance across a full race distance – it was a fantastic experience regardless.”

Andrew Miedecke (Team Principal – Miedecke Stone Motorsport)
“Okayama certainly presented its fair share of challenges. We spent some time trying to locate an issue that we thought we’d resolved after practice, but then discovered a braking performance issue which we weren’t able to resolve with what we had at hand. Both boys drove very well considering, and they perhaps disguised some of the shortfalls, but as a team Matt Stone and the crew were quickly onto the issue and they’ll be working to sort it by the time we get to Fuji.”