Familiar Names Join Australian GT At Sandown
A FORMER V8 Supercars Championship-winning team owner, a Touring Car Masters star and a former New Zealand Touring Car Champion are all among the new faces for the fifth round of the Australian GT Championship at Sandown in Melbourne on September 11-13.
A total of 32 cars have entered for the weekend, which is a major support event to the Wilson Security Sandown 500 V8 Supercar race.
Interestingly, a former Sandown 500-winning team owner will join AGT at Sandown after a hiatus from the pit lanes of Aussie motorsport.
Ross Stone, former co-owner of V8 powerhouse Stone Brothers Racing with brother Jimmy, has established Ross Stone Racing on the Gold Coast and will run Andrew Miedecke in an Aston Martin Vantage for the first time this weekend.
His team won the 2004 Sandown 500 with Marcos Ambrose and Greg Ritter, however his new RSR outfit is very much a small family concern that also is something of a re-unification with Miedecke with whom Stone worked in the Group A Sierra touring car era.
Miedecke will drive the former Tony Quinn Aston Martin, which was raced earlier in the year by Andrew Taplin/Dean Canto and most recently at Sydney Motorsport Park by Tim Miles.
The same car won last year’s Sandown AGT round in the hands of Quinn.
Former New Zealand Touring Car Champion John McIntyre – formerly a V8 Supercar endurance driver for Stone Brothers among other teams – has also been added to the AGT line-up for Sandown.
The 38-year-old from Nelson will join Interlloy M Motorsport Camaro owner Justin McMillan in the car as Jack Le Brocq concentrates on his V8 Supercars Championship debut with Erebus Motorsport.
McIntyre is no stranger to GT racing having joined the Trass Family team’s Ferrari driving crew at this year’s Bathurst 12 Hour.
McMillan’s team will also run its Lamborghini Gallardo for Glen Wood and former V8 Ute pilot Elliot Barbour.
Warren Luff will concentrate on his commitments in the Sandown 500 with the Holden Racing Team, opening up an opportunity for Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge driver Jaxon Evans to replace him in the Fastway Couriers Trophy Class Porsche as co-driver to Simon Ellingham.
While Luff and Le Brocq have avoided ‘double duty, Tony D’Alberto will accept the challenge and blend Maranello Motorsport Ferrari driving with Grant Denyer with his commitments as Tim Slade’s co-driver in the V8 classic for Supercheap Auto Racing.
No matter where you look, the fight for the title in the three respective classes that make up the Australian GT Championship are all close.
Sydney Motorsport Park round winners Christopher Mies and Ryan Millier will again team up after their victorious debut as a partnership in the JAMEC-PEM Audi.
Mies sits now just 11 points behind Championship class-leading Skwirk Audi pilot Nathan Antunes, with Grant Denyer third.
However, the ‘Family Feud’ TV host sits 83 points behind Mies and only eight clear of Tony Quinn’s McLaren with Klark Quinn fifth.
Wall Racing Audi pilots Barton Mawer and Greg Taylor remain on top of the Trophy Class heading to Sandown with only a 31 point break over Mark Griffith’s similar car.
Porsche pilot Michael O’Donnell leads the Challenge class by just six points over Tony Alford, who will drive his Donut King Nissan GT-R at Sandown.
In total there are 19 Championship cars, nine Trophy cars and four Challenge cars entered for the Sandown round.
The Australian GT Championship cars will hit the track at Sandown on Friday September 11 for first practice at 9.35am with Qualifying 1 at 2.00pm and Qualifying 2 at 4.20pm.
The first of two, one-hour races will be held on Saturday, beginning just before 5.00pm after the V8 Supercars complete their two qualifying races.
The GT cars will return to the track for the second one-hour race on Sunday morning, commencing at 9.05am.
This weekend’s round of the championship is the final on Australian soil for 2015.
The last round of the Australian GT Championship will be held at Highlands Motorsport Park in New Zealand on November 13-14.