It has been the best part of three months since the Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli combatants have been involved in door-handle-to-door-handle competition, but this weekend they will resume their title battles at what is widely regarded as the best drivers circuit in the country; Victoria’s Phillip Island.
In reality for many of the teams there has not been much respite since Clipsal’s second round back in early March, with a number of crews electing to upgrade their cars to the newly homologated 2013 FIA GT3 specification to ensure they can maintain their place at the front of the pack in an increasingly competitive field.
Notable by their absence from Adelaide after a soul-destroying crash at Mount Panorama during the season-opening Bathurst 12-Hour, Maranello Motorsport have upgraded the Peter Edwards/John Bowe Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 to 2013-spec, which includes a dramatic change in the car’s aero package.
“There has been a significant amount of development with the new 2013-spec car,” Maranello engineer Pat Cahill admitted. “Predominantly it’s aero, but there’s also some cooling and electronic modifications as well. The splitter has changed, and the floor behind the splitter and under the car to the diffuser has changed as well. It appears as if the early pitch problems we found we needed to dial out in the 458 have gone too as a result of testing in Italy.”
M Motorsport/GB Galvanizing’s Justin McMillan too has been in the upgrade process with his 2012-spec Lamborghini Gallardo LP600+, and like Maranello, has found some great improvement from the revised aero, but he admitted it came at a cost.
“What the FIA have decided is that whilst they’ve handed us an advantage with aero, they’ve also handed us all a penalty with the 2013-upgrade by way of weight penalties and bigger inlet restrictors, so it’s give with one hand and take away with the other.”
What that meant for McMillan’s Gallardo was a 30kg weight increase, and a 6mm increase in inlet restriction, something which had a bearing on Melbourne Performance Centre’s decision NOT to upgrade Rod Salmon’s Audi R8 LMG GT3 ultra..
“When we initially decided to do the upgrade, we were making our judgement on the package that was before the FIA for ratification for this year,” Salmon explained. “Sadly, a number of the big aero changes were knocked on the head, so the Audi didn’t get all the advances it was hoping for yet still copped a bigger inlet restrictor, so we thought we’d stick with the 2012 ultra upgrade and make the most out of that, besides, we know the car is good in it’s pre-upgrade spec as Craig [Lowndes] took it to a race win at Phillip Island last September.”
With dual Australian Formula 3 champion James Winslow jumping in alongside Salmon to share driving duties (regular co-driver Warren Luff is committed to his Carrera Cup team at Rennsport in Sydney this weekend), the #6 Skwirk.com.au R8 could well be the team to watch..
Another one sticking with his existing car in its current guise is Clipsal 500 runner-up Roger Lago, the former Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Australia champion sticking with his 2011-spec LP560 Lamborghini Gallardo.. for now!
“I’m not going to upgrade my 2012 car just yet,” he admitted when asked about what he’s done with the car that was damaged at Bathurst. “It has been repaired, and we’ve also ‘tidied up’ the car I bought ahead of Clipsal with plans to leave it as it is, and look at upgrading the Bathurst car to 2013-spec ahead of the Sepang 12-Hour later in the year.”
Upgraded cars won’t be the only change to the series at Phillip Island with a number of new drivers joining the fray, including a rookie in the Erebus Motorsport SLS AMG ‘gullwing’. Jack Le Brocq is no stranger to Phillip Island, the Victorian is the reigning Australian Formula Ford champion, and he’s done plenty of miles around the circuit in a variety of cars, but this weekend will see his debut in Australian GT.
Recently the 20-year old tested at Winton Motor Raceway and impressed team-boss Barry Ryan with his pace and his maturity. “To be honest, I felt that a driver of his calibre and experience should have been quick, but you never know,” Ryan explained. “It takes a cool head to get into these cars and be quick, but after 30-laps he was right on lap record pace, and he didn’t put a foot wrong, which is exactly what we were looking for.”
Also joining the field will be two experienced campaigners, both of whom will share the driving duties in a pair of Ginetta G50 GT4′s.. V8 Supercar regular Jack Perkins with Mark Griffiths, and Lee Castle with Tony Martin, whilst Touring Car Masters regular Keith Kassulke will join Ginetta stalwart Darren Berry.
Phillip Island will also see a couple of returnees, both of whom will be campaigning the GT Trophy category. One of which is the thundering Dodge Viper GT3 Competition Coupé that Tasmanian Greg Crick took to victory in race two 12 months ago at Phillip Island after qualifying on pole in the damp conditions. The car has been purchased by former Porsche regular Steve McLaughlan, and in two Victorian State Series races this year (including one at Phillip Island) he has proven a race winner against some of the current crop of GT3-spec cars.
The other is reigning GT Challenge champion Jan Jinadasa who has ‘upgraded’ to a Lamborghini Gallardo LP520 he recently imported from Europe to take on his new challenge, although with little more than a few short test sessions under his belt, he may take a few laps to get himself into the mix, but the fight between the two locals will prove an entertaining aside to the fight for outright victory.
With reigning champion Klark Quinn holding a comfortable points lead over the pack, the Porsche driver will be looking to conserve this weekend on a circuit that didn’t bring him much fortune in 2012, with a third, two fourths and a ninth placed finish during the series’ two Phillip Island visits last year. Whilst he’s not often the fastest driver on the circuit, he’s one of the most consistent and he’s always in the points, so he may not start the favourite this weekend, but keep an eye on him to retain his points lead by the close of the weekend, and don’t be surprised to see him on the podium at least once..
WHO TO WATCH OUT FOR?
Phillip Island in May will be a big determining factor for the weekend, with the cool conditions likely to play a part, but there will be some serious ‘wildcards’ to watch out for.
Klark Quinn’s 2012 record wasn’t great at Phillip Island, but you can’t discount him, but keep an eye on young Jack Le Brocq in his debut for Erebus Motorsport, and on fellow local Justin McMillan in the recently upgraded Gallardo LP600+. Despite just over two years in the sport, he has won two Victorian State Series championships, with many of those events conducted at ‘the Island’. Pre-event testing to has shown he has serious pace at Phillip Island, and already this year he has shown great speed despite it being his ‘rookie’ year in AGT.
John Bowe too can never be discounted, and with Peter Edwards getting more comfortable in the 458 with every event, they could well be outright contenders. Keep an eye on Rod Salmon too, the Audi pilot made his debut in an R8 at Phillip Island last year and he admits he loves the place, and he’s also just come off winning the Sandown round of the Victorian State Series last weekend – in testing conditions – so keep an eye on the Sydney-sider, with former Australian F3 champion James Winslow alongside, they could be the ‘dark horse’..
Source : Australian GT