On paper the Jamec Pem Racing team looked to be one of the leading outright contenders for the opening round of the Australian GT Championship at the Clipsal 500 and whilst that theory was proven more than correct by their qualifying pace and the fact that an Audi dominated the event, the notorious Adelaide streets also played a significant role in the final result.

Their driver lineup too only added weight to the argument, after it was revealed that former V8 Supercar regular Steven Johnson would drive alongside team-owner Steve McLaughlan in the #75 Jamec Pem entry, whilst German factory Audi driver Christopher Mies would be joined in the #74 entry by former Australian GT champion Greg Crick.

Both teams showed from the outset they would be contenders, with Johnson taking P1 in the opening practice session from Mies, the duo separated by less than a quarter of a second, Mies disappointed to be blocked on his final lap whilst ahead on sector times.

Session two saw traffic again affect the overall timesheet, Mies second once more, with McLaughlan comfortably mid-pack, the two pristine R8 ultras right where they wanted to be ahead of qualifying.

With just 20-minutes to set a time for both drivers, qualifying was always going to be a hectic session, yet despite this both Jamec Pem Audis qualified inside the top five, Mies falling an agonising four one hundredths shy of pole, with Johnson not too far behind.

Crick and McLaughlan started the opening 30-minute race, Crick holding on to fifth in the opening laps after being swamped by some of the ‘Pro’ drivers on the first lap, whilst McLaughlan held on to the tail of the top ten, positions they held through the compulsory pit stops which were taken during a Safety Car period to recover the stricken Mercedes of Morgan Haber. By flag-fall Crick had retained fifth position, whilst McLaughlan crossed the line 16th, Crick though receiving a 10-second penalty post-race for contact with the Tony Walls McLaren.

“I’m not happy about it because it was a racing incident that ultimately occurred due to a lack of vision – he didn’t see me and turned in, but I pay the penalty,” Crick shrugged afterwards.

For race two Mies and Johnson were behind the wheel for the start of the 60-minute late afternoon race, and the duo were right in the fight from the outset, Mies moving to second on lap four behind Melbourne Performance Centre team-mate Nathan Antunes (Skwirk Audi), whilst Johnson moved through the field to be inside the top ten after the opening lap, and third behind Mies by lap nine.

Mies pushed Antunes hard and grabbed the lead at one point, Antunes taking it back shortly after as Johnson closed in to make it a three-way Audi battle at the front.

Johnson’s third became second on lap 17 after Mies became the sandwich between Antunes and the lapped car of Kevin Weeks on the exit of turn nine, the contact sending Mies to the pits for an early stop, the team electing to put Crick behind the wheel as they checked the car for damage.
Johnson meanwhile continued to press Antunes until he made his compulsory pit stop [CPS] on lap 22 handing the car over to McLaughlan. By that stage the bulk of the field were forced to complete their CPS, which handed McLaughlan second, the Jamec Pem Racing team-boss soon through to the lead after Antunes made a late scheduled stop on lap 34.

By this stage Crick was pushing hard, the former Touring Car and Sports Sedan star moving inside the top ten, whilst McLaughlan continued to lead. Unfortunately, despite holding the lead for five laps during his maiden race on the streets of Adelaide, McLaughlan spun at turn four as Antunes closed in from behind. A slow recovery on a blind section of the circuit ultimately dropping the #75 Audi back to eighth at the flag, immediately behind team-mate Crick.

“I had a lot of fun, and passed a lot of cars, and didn’t put a mark on Steve’s car, which is always a bonus,” Steven Johnson smiled afterwards. “Steve did a brilliant job to be honest. He’s a gentleman driver and hasn’t done a lot of racing as such, but to lead a number of laps towards the end was fantastic, but he just made a little mistake and spun. I don’t blame him at all for that, he set a new PB and went well under the lap time he was aiming for, so he did a good job. We finished eighth and that puts us in pretty good stead for the final race.”

Whilst Johnson was reflective on his maiden run in the Audi, Mies was clearly disappointed not to have had the chance to fight for victory. “It was rough,” he admitted. “I had a pretty good start and caught the leader, then I was sandwiched between him and the Ford, and we made contact. He [Antunes] could continue, but we had a puncture and had to pit. In the end we came seventh, but we had a realistic chance to win this race today – that’s how racing is sometimes..”

With Mies and Johnson behind the wheel for the final 30-minute race, expectations were high that the Jamec Pem Racing team could battle dual-race winner Nathan Antunes at the front of the field, but sadly, that opportunity came to an end at turn one after one of the leading cars made contact with the tyre barriers and bounced across in front of the field eliminating a number of cars including the #75 Audi of Steven Johnson.

Mies was fortunately able to work his way through the carnage relatively unscathed, however any chance he had, came to an end during the CPS, which again was held under Safety Car conditions, the young German forced to stop an agonising 20-seconds longer than the bulk of the field by virtue of his ‘Pro’ driver status.

Sadly, by the time the Safety Car was withdrawn from the circuit, there was only two laps left in the race, Mies setting some stunning sectors to work from 19th to seventh, in the process elevating himself and Crick to fourth in the championship points.

“I managed to avoid the cars at turn one without any damage and move into third, so hit the pits fro the CPS third but came out third last, and with just a couple of laps without a Safety Car, I managed to move up to seventh place,” a visibly disappointed Mies admitted. “We had a good chance to win this event, but that’s how racing is..”

For team-leader Steve McLaughlan, whilst a frustrating weekend where they were unable to realize their full potential, both cars showed race winning pace.

“Unfortunately with that last much shorter race we didn’t get a chance to see how good Chris really is, because they only raced for a couple of laps, and unfortunately for Steven Johnson, he was an innocent party in a rather major crash at turn one,” McLaughlan admitted.

“I think as a team we’re in a good position, it’s just unfortunate when things like that happen, but we’ll go away and repair the #75 car and be ready to go for Phillip Island.”

For the Jamec Pem Racing team, the focus is on repairing the #75 Audi, which fortunately suffered mainly cosmetic damage. Once repairs are effected, the team will go into test mode at their ‘home’ circuit at Phillip Island ahead of the only endurance race in the 2015 Australian GT Championship, the 101-lap race at ‘the Island’ on 22-24 May.