With qualifying and two 40-minute races scheduled for the opening day of racing at Queensland Raceway, running from midday to the darkness of Saturday night, teams had their work cut out for them to be ready for the vagaries of night time competition. Fortunately GT cars are designed for endurance racing under a variety of conditions, but with racing in darkness a novelty for the Australian championship, no-one was quite prepared for what was to unfold.
QUALIFYING
After dominating practice on Friday, no-one was surprised when Roger Lago jumped to the top of the timesheets early in his JBS Swift Lamborghini Gallardo LP600, but what was a surprise for all present – Lago included – was Tony Quinn bettering the former Porsche champions time in his Darrell Lea Aston Martin Vantage.
“I figured once I dropped into the 1:08.8s, that I’d be pretty right, and then Tony put in a blinder,” Lago shrugged afterwards. “So I thought I’d better go out and have another go, and a 1:08.4726 was enough. I parked it then and figured that if anyone topped that, then they deserved pole.”
Points leader Klark Quinn was third in the VIP Petfoods Porsche GT3.R with his best time of the weekend, admitting that he still wasn’t 100% comfortable, but that the team would work on the balance of the car ahead of the opening race.
John Bowe finished fourth fastest, just a quarter of a second back from the Porsche driver, but admitted that the Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia was in less than perfect condition after Friday’s contact with the Trofeo Corvette.
“The damage to the front of the car whilst mainly cosmetic, has upset the balance a little because the aero has been affected,” he admitted. “How much is hard to determine, but without a spare 2013 front splitter, the boys have done a MacGyver [referring to the TV show from the 90s] and put the thing back together so that you almost wouldn’t know.
“Fact is though the shape of these cars and the aero has been designed in a wind tunnel, so when you change the dynamics by even a millimetre or two, it’s going to affect the car, but we’ll soldier on and see what happens.”
Greg Murphy was next in the ‘ageing’ Trofeo Motorsport Corvette Z06.R, the former European Championship winning car two generations back from the leading cars in the field, but despite that the former Bathurst winner hussled it around to take a third row start.
“That’s about all the car had,” he admitted with a shrug. “Without some of the advances in the new 2012/2013-spec cars, we won’t get much more than that, so we’ll rely on our consistency in the races and see where we wind up.”
Murphy was scheduled to go the three 40-minute races alone after car-owner Jim Manolios elected to step aside from driving duties to concentrate on his role as the Pirelli tyre distributor for the series.
Sixth fastest was new Melbourne Performance Centre recruit Liam Talbot in the Rod Salmon Skwirk.com.au Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra, the rookie setting an impressive pace, only marginally improving on the benchmark set by Salmon, whilst behind them, another Queensland Raceway rookie Justin McMillan held down seventh place in the M Motorsport Lamborghini Gallardo FLII.
Steve McLaughlan led the Trophy Class field in his JAMEC PEM Racing Dodge Viper Competition Coupé by more than a second over reigning Challenge class champion Jan Jinadasa (JJA Consulting Lamborghini Gallardo LP520), whilst class rookie Graham Lusty was third in his ex-John Briggs Mosler MT900.
The appearance of John Modystach and Jonny Reid in the former’s Porsche Type 997 GT3 Cup Car upset the rhythm of the Challenge class regulars as they usurped Brendan Cook and Matt Kingsley to take the class pole, splitting the two Trophy cars of McLaughlan and Jinadasa, whilst George Foessel got the better of the inter-team fight with son Ben to take third in class.
Mark Griffith and Jack Perkins continued their impressive run in the GT4 Sports category to claim another pole in the Vawdrey Semi Trailers Ginetta G50, with title rival Michael Hovey second in Tony Martin’s TM Motorsports Ginetta, whilst Darrell Dixon brought up the tail of the field in the G&D Wheels Nissan Skyline GTR-R35.
RACE ONE (40-minutes)
Off the rolling start the big question was whether the torque of the V10 Gallardo of Lago would be enough to overcome the might of the British V12 in the Aston Martin of Tony Quinn on the run into turn one, the answer resolved to the affirmative, in essence due to Lago starting on the inside line.
Behind them Klark Quinn and John Bowe battled over second, with Greg Murphy keeping them all honest and mindful of the menacing Corvette.
As the field settled into place it was Liam Talbot in the Salmon Audi that stole the early advantage to dive inside Murphy on the run into turn three, but the following lap, whilst on the tail of Bowe, the rookie spun at turn four after running slightly off line. “My mistake,” he admitted afterwards. “I went in a bit deep and got caught on the marbles and applied a bit much brake pressure and around it went.”
Unfortunately the spin also impacted the Trophy class with points leader Steve McLaughaln forced to put the big Viper in a spin to avoid the errant Audi, in the process the Victorian unable to restart as he sat at right angles to the flow of traffic mid-track. Officials had no option but to call the Safety Car and have McLaughlan towed into the pits where he was soon re-fired and on his way. “I had nowhere to go as I got into the turn to see the Audi broadside across the circuit in front of me, and then as I spun it cut out. All I needed was a little push and I would have been away, but there was no help out in the middle. Despite being comfortably fastest, at three laps down by the time they recovered me, my race was over,” he admitted with frustration post-race.
Off the restart Lago came under fire from Tony Quinn, with the category owner powering past on lap ten to lead the field into the compulsory pit stops [CPS]. Lago stayed out and enjoyed some clean air, the pair matched on parity penalties during their stops by virtrue of both qualifying on the front row, so the fight for the lead came down to an F1-style pit stop battle.
Lago’s efforts and his stop were rewarded with the lead after he emerged five seconds clear of the Aston after his stop, but the charging Quinn made up four of those seconds within two laps to once again range up on the rear of Lago’s menacing black Lamborghini, but as the stage was prepared for a titanic battle for the lead over the closing laps, the officials intervened.
“One of our young crew guys in his efforts to help, stepped across the line in the pits during the stop, and that gave us three men over the line [rules allow for a maximum of two] and a resulting drive-through penalty,” Lago admitted post-race. “From there it was all over.”
Sadly for the local star, his weekend was to take another turn for the worse post-race after the team discovered another gearbox issue, immediately withdrawing the car from the round.
“After Friday’s failure of near new parts, I wasn’t going to risk more damage,” he explained, clearly disappointed. “I’m not sure what we’ve done to deserve the outcome of this weekend, because it held so much promise early.”
With Lago gone, Tony Quinn was left to a comfortable lead, ultimately crossing the line 15 seconds up on son Klark, with John Bowe third.
“That might have looked easy, but it was bloody hard work,” Quinn lamented afterwards. “I was ready to pounce on Roger, but I never had the chance in the end, but I’m very happy with the result, which was testament to how good the car and the team are – but the bloke behind the wheel can drive a bit too you know..!”
Greg Murphy was fourth ahead of the recovering Lago, whilst Justin McMillan – who fell back off the start – charged through to sixth and was typically all smiles. Seventh, after arguably his best ever GT performance was Dean Koutsoumidis, the Equity-One Audi pilot charging through on team-mate Rod Salmon on the final lap to take the position away from the multiple Bathurst 12-Hour winner.
“How good’s that,” he beamed afterwards. “I was closing in on him and just concentrating on getting my lines and braking points right. I could make up a lot of time under brakes, and once I was on his tail I applied the McInnes technique,” he laughed in reference to his absent team-mate Andrew McInnes. “I always watch him work his way onto the back of another car and then start to weave a little to loom large in their mirrors and force them into a mistake, so that’s what I did, and Rod left the door open and that was all I needed. It’s nice to be the hunter for a change instead of the prey..!”
Brendan Cook and Matt Kingsley (Walz/Surelift Crane Hire Porsche Type 997 GT3 Cup Car) claimed the Challenge class win after working their way through to ninth, aided in part by the parity time penalty applied to early class leader – V8 Supercar part-timer – Jonny Reid, with Graham Lusty classified tenth and the race winner in the Trophy Class despite finishing without the bodywork at the rear of the Mosler.
“I had a spin on Bowey’s coolant after his accident during practice yesterday and may have dislodged something in the back as a result, because I don’t remember hitting anyone, or anyone hitting me, so we’ll work on reattaching it, and importantly the tail light, ahead of tonight’s second race,” he explained.
And in the battle for GT4 honours it was Mark Griffith and Jack Perkins who again claimed victory, Perkins pulling an amazing outside pass on Darrell Dixon and one of the Porsche’s on the final lap in the high speed first turn.
“I got the Skyline as I came onto the front straight but he just powered past me with his all powerful 4WD before he braked, so I shot around the outside and found a slower Porsche in front of me, so I just went around the outside, it wasn’t ideal, but I wasn’t hanging around,” he admitted.
Second in the GT4 Sports class were Michael Hovey and Tony Martin who are hoping their ‘joker’ card decision for Queensland will return them to the points lead heading into the final in New Zealand. “Griffo [Griffith] took the points lead from me at Sydney by virtue of using his joker [which allows the entrant to double their points haul from that one round], so I’d like to repay the favour,” Hovey admitted. “We only have to finish second, but that should be enough to force a title fight in New Zealand.”
RACE TWO (40-minutes)
Scheduled for the eerie darkness of 6:00pm, race two was always going to test the series regulars who apart from an early morning start at Bathurst during the season opener, are rarely subjected to cloudy conditions, much less complete darkness..
Opinions varied over what the drivers would experience.. From the upbeat nature of rookie Challenge class points leader Ben Foessel who couldn’t wait to get on track, to the experienced stars like John Bowe who felt visibility was severely limited, the 2013-specification cars with the ‘safety cell’ seats doing nothing to aid his cause.
Tony Quinn controlled the rolling start to power away from pole to lead into turn one with son Klark hot on his heels. Behind them though former V8 Supercar series regulars Greg Murphy and John Bowe attacked, Murphy at one stage looking to go around the outside of the two Quinn cars through the fast turn one-two complex.
Into turn three though he pounced, firing deep under brakes to take second away from Klark Quinn before setting out after the race leader.
Whilst he pushed hard, Murphy couldn’t catch Tony Quinn but came under fire from Klark Quinn and the waiting John Bowe.
The first casualty of the night was Ben Foessel who pitted early to investigate a knock in the front suspension. “It was so violent the guys in the pits could hear it when I was on track,” he admitted with disappointment post-race. “It feels like the suspension struts are loose or something like that. I tried to press on to finish enough laps to be classified and retain my points, but there was no way, so that was that.”
Second casualty was Justin McMillan, the GB Galvanizing M Motorsport pilot started strongly, but visibility cost him at turn four on the second lap. “I got to my braking point, turned in and looked down, and it was nothing but dirt,” he laughed.
He recovered quickly and turned in some of his best laps of the weekend on his way to a sixth placed finish.
Behind the leaders the battle between Rod Salmon and Dean Koutsoumidis continued, with the Equity-One Audi pilot again forcing the point to take the early advantage, but on lap eight Koutsoumidis went into turn four too wide, and spun. Following closely behind Salmon fired up the inside to take back the position, but as he got to the Koutsoumidis Audi, it lurched forward, hitting Salmon in the right rear.
Damage was focused around the front of Koutsoumidis car, but testament to the strength of the Audi product, both cars continued, although a deflating tyre ultimately forced the Equity-One car to pit as soon as the window opened, with the team keeping an eye on the clock to ensure team-mate Macrow didn’t take more than his allocated maximum of 50% of the race laps.
The charger in the field early though was Klark Quinn, who after losing position to Greg Murphy on the opening lap, recovered the lap afterwards and then moved forward to take the lead from his father on lap four, dropping the pace by more than a second a lap as Murphy tried to work his way around the Aston Martin.
With Klark Quinn off to a strong lead, Murphy knew he had to get around Tony Quinn quickly, charging through on lap seven to set out after Klark Quinn who by that stage had opened up a three second lead.
By lap 14 Trophy Class points leader Steve McLaughlan was out, rolling to a stop at turn three forcing a Safety Car intervention, the Victorian at a loss to explain what happened. “No fuel pressure whatsoever. We were looking pretty good after our race one performance, and just off the tail of the two Audis, but now we’ll have a night of diagnostics to try and work out the cause..”
For the rest of the field the resultant Safety Car period was a gift – well more especially for those that were planning to stop as soon as the window opened, which occurred almost exactly as the Viper rolled to a stop.
One of the first in was Matt Kingsley, handing the car over to car-owner Brendan Cook. Whilst there wasn’t too much special about the stop, the impact didn’t play out until after the Safety Car picked up race leader Klark Quinn.. the only problem, he hit the pits too followed by Bowe and other cars that hadn’t to that point conducted their CPS, the Safety Car instead forced to pick up the next car in line, the Darrell Dixon GT4 Skyline.
As the recovery crew retrieved the Viper, one of the most unusual accidents in GT history occurred in pit lane.
Coming down pit road in the dark, pitting not too far behind Klark Quinn, John Bowe just grabbed the galvanized steel supporting posts for the pit lane wall with the right front wheel, snapping the front suspension, the Il Bello Ross Ferrari bouncing down pit road like a kid on a pogo stick as it tried to roll over the wheel.
“I was coming down pit lane trying to locate my pit bay, and I couldn’t quite see it, so I wasn’t concentrating entirely on where I was on pit road,” he admitted with a tinge of disappointment post-race. His positioning on the left side of the car didn’t help either, nor the intensity of the shift lights on the dash.
“They’re great during the day, but when they started flashing on the grid in the dark, I was almost completely blind, but no excuses, it was my error and I’m sorry to Pete [Edwards] and the team, we were well and truly in a position to figure in this race, because I’d been saving my tyres for an attack on Klark over the second half of the race.”
With Klark Quinn now classified as race leader courtesy of his stop under Safety Car conditions, he rejoined in line, but behind those that had pitted earlier who formed up immediately behind the Nissan.
Once the race stewards had confirmed that Klark was still the leader, they released the pack in front of him to go around and join the line behind the VIP Petfoods Porsche, dropping some a lap down, and allowing others the advantage of being behind him on the road.
In the process, only five cars remained on the lead lap – the last of them – Brendan Cook in the Challenge class Porsche..
On the restart Klark Quinn charged away from the field, opening up a huge lead by the time Tony Quinn and Greg Murphy had worked their way from the back of the field. Holding second, Tony Quinn was in no mind to leave the door open for the experienced V8 Supercar veteran as the two drivers charged through the field.
At various points on the lap the field was three wide as Murphy tried to thread the needle around the slower cars, the Lusty Mosler at one point with Murphy one side and the Darrell Lea Aston the other as they fired into the braking point at turn six, neither of the leaders willing to conceded and brake early. In the end, with the inside line, Murphy prevailed into turn six, but Quinn wasn’t about to let him have it, working his way through the run onto the front straight side-by-side with the Corvette.
With a 12-second lead intact, Klark Quinn just maintained his consistent pace over the closing laps as Murphy charged, the Trofeo Motorsport pilot setting the fastest lap of the race two laps from home – 1:09.9211. In the end he fell just over seven seconds shy of Klark Quinn, with Tony Quinn a similar margin back in fourth place.
Liam Talbot came across the line in fourth after another outstanding stint behind the wheel of Rod Salmon’s Audi, with Challenge class pilot Brendan Cook a welcome fifth.. “Outright..?” he asked with surprise post-race.
Sixth and first car a lap down was Justin McMillan who overcame early nerves to charge through the field in the closing laps to set one of his fastest laps of the weekend after his early race spin. “That was fun,” he grinned, “mad, but fun..!”
Seventh and second Challenge class car home was Jonny Reid, ahead of Mark Griffith in the leading GT4 Sports car and Jan Jinadasa in the leading Trophy Class car.
Jinadasa was in the thick of the action early, improving throughout the race to claim his first win since joining the Trophy class, aided by a lurid spin by Graham Lusty at turn six not too long after the compulsory pit stops.
Post-race an exhausted Klark Quinn admitted that he was happy to have a win at his home circuit. “That was a good race. I didn’t charge off the start because I wanted to see what Murph would do with Dad and where Bowey would be in the equation. Once the dust settled though I just concentrated on my consistency and worked my way forward. It was really down to focus and keeping the head down and the bum up and keep pumping out consistently fast laps.
“The Safety Car worked in our favour in the end too, because that gave me the break off the restart to open a lead because I knew Dad and Murph were coming, but by the time they got through I had a buffer.”
Sunday (14 July) will see a 15-minute morning warm-up (11:25am) ahead of the final 40-minute race at 1:30pm. (AEST)
Source : Australian GT