M-Motorsport impressive in Sydney despite testing conditions

M-Motorsport/Interlloy Camaro/Lamborghini GT3

Rnd#4 2015 Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli

Townsville, Queensland (10-12 July, 2015)

Whilst the score-card for the Sydney Motorsport Park round of the Australian GT Championship may not include big numbers for the Interlloy-supported M-Motorsport team, there were plenty of positives to take away from the two 60-minute championship races, with both the #48 Camaro and the #46 Lamborghini featuring strongly throughout the weekend.

Ultimately though both teams struck problems during the event, Justin McMillan turned sideways at the fastest part of the circuit whilst running strongly in race one, whilst the popular M-Motorsport Camaro was turned around on the opening lap of race two, suffering an electrical issue in the process which saw it stranded on the circuit.

There were highlights though, series rookie Glen Wood was impressive on his debut in the Interlloy Lamborghini, fourth fastest in opening qualifying ahead of a number of established GT stars, with Le Brocq making the top ten in the Interlloy Camaro in Q2, whilst both McMillan and Nathan Morcom turned in solid laps to give the team plenty to look forward to ahead of the two scheduled 60-minute races.

Starting from the third row of the grid, McMillan stuck just off the tail of the leaders on the opening two laps, but on the run into turn one – one of the fastest corners in Australian motorsport – it all came unstuck on lap three.

“I had just turned into turn one at something around 200kph, when all of a sudden I was sideways and heading towards the grass,” McMillan explained.

“I didn’t know what had hit me, but my mind quickly reflected on the number of incidents I’d seen at that part of the circuit over the years where the car starts to flip over.. Fortunately that didn’t occur, but I was pretty keen to see what had happened post-race.”

Charging through from the back of the pack, Ginetta driver Matt Campbell made a huge lunge down the inside of one of the Ferraris into turn one, to be on McMillan’s tail, the young Queenslander electing to take the Interlloy Lamborghini as well, completely unsighted by McMillan as he moved across to the apex of the corner.

The front right of the Ginetta caught the left rear of the #46 Gallardo, turning McMillan around at frightening speed. Fortunately damage was minimal, although the spin tore the left rear tyre from the wheel, forcing McMillan’s retirement.

That left the #48 Camaro as the team’s remaining entry, Nathan Morcom carefully picking his way through the pack to be ninth as he made his compulsory pit stop [CPS] to hand the car over to Le Brocq.

With few laps remaining after a lengthy Safety Car intervention, Le Brocq had little opportunity to move forward, the Camaro team crossing the line in eighth position, although still suffering an intermittent electrical issue which had impacted the car since opening practice.

Sadly for the #48 team, that problem was solved ahead of race two, but contact from Barton Mawer in an Audi had forced Le Brocq off the circuit, where he was unable to re-start the car.

An interim Safety Car period saw the Camaro recovered and returned to pit lane where the team were able to re-fire the car and install Morcom behind the wheel, although six laps down on the leaders.

Despite that his pace was impressive, the Camaro turning laps faster than many of the race leaders to see him in a position to start unlapping himself in the closing stages, although in the end he took the safe option and allowed the title contenders through without interference to cross the line in 25th position.

For the #46 Interlloy Lamborghini though, their pace was also impressive, Wood moving from rear of field to 14th on the opening lap in the challenging damp conditions, then as high as fifth before making his compulsory stop to hand over to McMillan.

The M-Motorsport team leader reveled in the drying conditions to continue the forward march, moving from 21st to 11th at the flag setting lap times inside the top ten in the process.

“It was a tough weekend ultimately, but in the end both cars had good pace – Nathan was tenth fastest ultimately and I was eleventh – but the points don’t show the best result,” McMillan reflected. “We’re lucky the incident in race one wasn’t more costly, and the Gallardo showed impressive pace, whilst the Camaro – once we had it sorted, was quick. Sadly Jack never got the opportunity to get the most from it because of the way things played out, but after we sorted the electrical issue it was clearly quick despite the conditions, so we’re expecting a good result at home in Melbourne.

“For the next event Jack is committed to V8 Supercars as a co-driver in the Sandown 500, so we have John McIntyre coming over from New Zealand to drive the Interlloy Camaro with me, whilst Nathan Morcom may take the wheel of the Gallardo alone.

“I’m looking forward to driving with John, he’s been an integral part of Inky Tulloch’s success with the Camaro in New Zealand, so he knows the car, and as a former V8 Supercar co-driver, he also knows all about Sandown, so we should be in for a good weekend.”

The fifth and penultimate round of the Australian GT Championship will be held at Sandown Raceway in south-eastern Melbourne in just under three weeks (11-13 September), where the two M-Motorsport Interlloy cars will compete in front of their home fans.

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Keep up to date with further announcements from the M Motorsport/Interlloy race team by visiting; www.facebook.com/MMotorsportGT3

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Sydney Motorsport Park, Eastern Creek, NSW (21-23 August)

Qualifying #1: (21 August)

1. Christopher Mies (Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra) – 1:28.0304

2. Nathan Antunes (Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra) – 1:28.6681

3. Aaron Seton (Porsche GT3-R) – 1:29.1889

4. Glen Wood (Interlloy Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 GT3) – 1:29.2456

5. Max Twigg (Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3) – 1:29.4225

6. Morgan Haber (Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3) – 1:29.5195

7. Klark Quinn (McLaren 650S GT3) – 1:29.7953

8. Tony Walls (McLaren 650S GT3) – 1:29.9190

9. Matt Campbell (Ginetta G55 GT3) – 1:29.9419

10. John Bowe (Bentley Continental GT3) – 1:29.9514

16. Nathan Morcom (Interlloy Chevrolet Camaro GT3) – 1:31.2237

Qualifying #2: (21 August)

1. Steve Owen (Ford GT GT3) – 1:27.7472

2. Jono Lester (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) – 1:28.7232

3. Morgan Haber (Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3) – 1:28.8277

4. Nathan Antunes (Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra) – 1:28.8401

5. Grant Denyer (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) – 1:29.3458

6. Barton Mawer (Audi R8 LMS GT3) – 1:29.9543

7. Bradley Shiels (Porsche GT3-R) – 1:30.1747

8. Andrew Jones (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) – 1:30.2122

9. Jack Le Brocq (Interlloy Chevrolet Camaro GT3) – 1:30.4948

10. Tony Walls (McLaren 650S GT3) – 1:30.8136

25. Justin McMillan (Interlloy Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 GT3) – 1:34.0371

Race#1 (60-minutes): (22 August)

1. Christopher Mies/Ryan Millier (Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra) – 31-laps

2. Nathan Antunes (Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra)

3. Jono Lester/Graeme Smyth (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)

4. Morgan Haber (Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3)

5. Grant Denyer (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)

6. Klark Quinn (McLaren 650S GT3)

7. Max Twigg/Geoff Emery (Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3)

8. Nathan Morcom/Jack Le Brocq (Interlloy Chevrolet Camaro GT3)

9. James Koundouris (Porsche GT3-R)

10. Tony Walls (McLaren 650S GT3)

DNF. Justin McMillan/Glen Wood (Interlloy Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 GT3) – 2-laps

Race#2 (60-minutes): (23 August)

1. Grant Denyer (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) – 29-laps

2. Klark Quinn (McLaren 650S GT3)

3. Nathan Antunes (Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra)

4. Ryan Millier/Christopher Mies (Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra)

5. Scott Taylor/Aaron Seton (Porsche GT3-R)

6. James Koundouris (Porsche GT3-R)

7. Mark Griffith (Audi R8 LMS GT3)

8. Barton Mawer/Greg Taylor (Audi R8 LMS GT3)

9. Steven McLaughlan (Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra)

10. Andrew Macpherson/Bradley Shiels (Porsche GT3-R)

11. Glen Wood/Justin McMillan (Interlloy Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 GT3)

25. Jack Le Brocq/Nathan Morcom (Interlloy Chevrolet Camaro GT3)

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2015 Australian GT Championship (points after round four of six)

1. Nathan Antunes (446-points), 2. Christopher Mies (435), 3. Grant Denyer (353), 4. Tony Quinn (345), 5. Klark Quinn (329), 6. Greg Crick (300), 7. Jono Lester (297), 8. Max Twigg/Geoff Emery (273), 9. Tony D’Alberto (236), 10. James Koundouris (229), 22. Justin McMillan (86), 25. Jack Le Brocq (67), 33. Nathan Morcom (45), 39. Glen Wood (26)

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Rnd#1 – 26 February-1 March, Clipsal 500, Adelaide, SA*

Rnd#2 – 22-24 May, Phillip Island, Victoria**

Rnd#3 – 10-12 July, Townsville, Queensland*

Rnd#4 – 21-23 August, Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW*

Rnd#5 – 11-13 September, Sandown 500, Melbourne, Victoria*

Rnd#6 – 13-15 November, Highlands Motorsport Park, Cromwell, NZ

(* with V8 Supercars, ** with the Shannons Nationals)

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M-Motorsport is proudly supported by Interlloy Engineering Steels and Alloys, Australian Post Tensioning, Liqui-Moly, Meguiars and Vibrabody.

Interlloy Pty Ltd is Australia’s lead supplier of Engineering Steels and Alloys to engineering machine shops both nationally and internationally.

Founded in 1987and now employing over one hundred and forty (140) people in five states of Australia, Interlloy has become the major supplier of Special Steels to the General and Heavy Engineering Industries, Toolmaking, Mining, Gas & Oil Fields, Automotive, Manufacturing, Petrochemical, Pump, Power Generation and Transport Industries.

For more information, please visit; www.interlloy.com.au

For more information on the M-Motorsport/Interlloy team, please contact Sean Henshelwood at Signature Series Group [SSG] via sean@signatureseries.com.au

www.mmotorsport.com.au

photo: John Morris – mpix