The Erebus Motorsport juggernaut continues in the Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli, with Phillip Island round winner Jack Le Brocq claiming both pole position and the opening race today, leading home reigning champion Klark Quinn and Peter Edwards.
Le Brocq started the day strongly by claiming pole position in the Clipsal 500 winning Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3, dropping into the 27s early in the session to be more than six tenths clear of John Bowe in the Il Bello Rosso Ferrari 458 Italia before series debutante Nathan Antunes took Rod Salmon’s Skwirk.com.au Audi R8 to second in the dying stages of the session to fall just five one hundredths short of Le Brocq.
“There was probably another half a second in the car, but the session finished prematurely before I could get out and make use of the second set of tyres,” Le Brocq admitted causally afterwards.
Antunes meanwhile was happy with his pace, on a circuit he knows intimately. “I’ve done a couple of laps around here before,” he grinned. “The car felt fantastic, and was very rewarding to drive, I’m really looking forward to the race and having a chance to compete against these guys.”
John Bowe retained third, with Tony Quinn completing the second row after going quicker than son Klark late in the session.
The biggest loser from qualifying though was reigning Victorian State Series champion Justin McMillan who had a spin at the hairpin on the opening lap of the session, just clipping the inside wall on the exit. “It’s done a little bit of suspension damage, but apart from that it’s going to be a straight forward fix,” Ash Seward, M Motorsport’s team manager admitted. “Sadly though, with the quick turnaround between qualifying and race one, we won’t make the race, but the car will be perfect for tomorrow.”
Matt Kingsley took Brendan Cook’s Type 997 Porsche to ninth place to lead the Challenge Class field away, qualifying immediately behind Phillip Island Trophy Class winner Steve McLaughlan, who again took class honours in the Dodge Viper after series rival Jan Jinadasa suffered alternator failure in his JJA Consulting Gallardo LP520.
As he had done at Phillip Island, V8 Supercar part-timer Jack Perkins took the Ginetta honours to claim pole for the GT4 Sports class ahead of points leader Michael Hovey, Keith Kassulke and Tony Martin.
With a better understanding of the heat cycles of the control Pirelli DH slick, Le Brocq got away from the rolling start to lead into turn one and pull away from Bowe. “I was probably a bit too cautious off the start at Phillip Island, because the grip takes a couple of laps to ‘come on’, but this time I had a better feel for it, so was able to make a bit of a break over Bowey early,” Le Brocq confirmed post race.
“I was never going to be able to stick with him,” Bowe admitted. “He was just too quick..”
Off the front row Rod Salmon did a magnificent job to keep the field at bay through turn one, but was soon relegated down the order by Tony Quinn, the two making light contact through turns three and four. Shortly afterwards Roger Lago – who had been caught out by a slow starting Tony Quinn – charged through on Salmon, with Klark Quinn close behind.
“Tony’s slow start caught me completely by surprise, and I dropped back, but Klark was being gentlemanly and left me some room into turn two,” Lago confirmed afterwards.
He’d probably wished he hadn’t, after taking almost ten minutes to get around the JBS Swift Gallardo LP560 to pursue the race leaders.
By then though, Le Brocq and Bowe had gone, Le Brocq charging early to reset Allan Simonsen’s standing lap record to a 1:28.4500 on lap four, with three consecutive laps under the old lap record.
With the two Quinns and Lago through early, Salmon came under fire from the ‘sister’ Audi R8 of Andrew McInnes, but as the compulsory pit stops grew near, he managed to stretch his advantage before pitting almost as soon as the minute 20 window opened, handing the Skwirk.com.au R8 over to Antunes.
Antunes charged from his opening lap, dipping into the sub-30s immediately to reduce the deficit to the leaders by the time the pit stop cycles had been completed. By this stage Le Brocq had worked his way back into the lead, comfortably breaking clear of Edwards in the 458. Antunes was charging, and quickly caught Tony Quinn, taking a couple of laps to work his way past the Darrell Lea Aston.
From there he closed in on the battle for second between Edwards and Klark Quinn, the former using the legs of the Ferrari to maintain position for a number of laps before Quinn finally made an inside move into turn one under brakes with five minutes to spare.
By that time Antunes had turned a 12-second deficit into a five car length disadvantage and he too was quickly onto the tail of Edwards and through on the final lap, ultimately crossing the line 2.5-seconds behind Klark Quinn for third.
“That was fantastic,” Antunes beamed afterwards. “What a rush, I can’t thank Rod [Salmon] enough for the opportunity. Can’t wait until tomorrow.”
Le Brocq was rapt to have taken his third consecutive victory, and the Erebus Motorsport team’s fifth straight win, but admitted it hadn’t been as comfortable as Phillip Island.
“I was probably a bit hard on the tyres early, so I got a first hand lesson in tyre management. SMP is a different circuit to Phillip Island, but we managed the tyre wear in the end, but it will change my approach for tomorrow.”
John Bowe admitted that he wasn’t able to stay with the reigning Formula Ford champion, but also agreed that he was impressed with team-mate Peter Edwards’ stint in the car.
“For a guy that doesn’t do a lot of miles in a race car, he impresses me every time out, and he gets quicker with every lap in the car.”
Tony Quinn held on for fourth after another sterling drive to continue his charge up the championship order, with Dean Koutsoumidis and Andrew McInnes a solid sixth.
Roger Lago’s strong opening stint battling Klark Quinn came to a premature end in the dying stages of the race after an alternator belt frayed and broke, shutting down electrics and ultimately the fuel pump.
“I went as far as I could, but I just couldn’t make it through the final five minutes,” he lamented afterwards. “It’s an easy fix, so we’ll do it from the rear tomorrow.”
Steve McLaughlan’s maiden run at SMP was rewarded with victory after Trophy Class title rival Jinadasa was again plagued by alternator problems, which ultimately slowed his progress. “We didn’t have time between qualifying and the race to change it, so we made a battery change mid-race to keep going, but after three stops we called it quits,” Jinadasa explained. “We’ll work on it overnight and with any luck take the fight to Steve tomorrow.”
Matt Kingsley’s opening leg in the Challenge class provided car-owner Brendan Cook with a big lead over arch-rivals Ben and George Foessel, aided by an early stop for George Foessel to check tyre pressures, and an extended program for Ben who was campaigning both AGT and Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge.
In the end they came home a comfortable eighth, although Cook was battling tyre wear over the closing laps. “Matt charged off the start and took the best of the tyres, then handed it to me, so we got through to the finish, but it wasn’t pretty,” he admitted afterwards.
And in GT4 Sports, the combination of Mark Griffith and Jack Perkins was too strong, the Phillip Island class winners claiming ninth outright and first in class, with Michael Hovey second clear of Darren Berry and Keith Kassulke and Tony Martin, who suffered two lurid spins during the race, including one at high speed through turn one in the opening laps.
With the Justin McMillan/Steven Richards and Roger Lago Lamborghini’s off the back row for tomorrow’s second race, the action is sure to come thick and fast, but will anyone catch Le Brocq and prevent another back-to-back victory for the 21-year old Victorian.. stay tuned!
Source : Australian GT