At the end of the 2016 season, Klark Quinn become the first member of a brand-new Australian GT club; the triple champs.
Driving his striking orange, Darrell Lea backed McLaren 650S GT3, Quinn hung on to his championship advantage at a nail-biting final round in Highlands.
The event was highlighted by the private battle between Quinn and title rival Nathan Morcom, with the points difference so slim heading into the event whoever finished ahead for the weekend would have been crowned champion.
After a clash on the final lap while dicing for the lead in the penultimate race of the year, both Quinn and Morcom started the finale from the back of the grid.
With everything to play for in that final 60-minute encounter, a damaged floor ultimately saw Morcom’s charge fade in the closing stages, while Quinn charged on to finish a strong third.
It proved enough to crown him Australian GT Champion for 2016, and carve himself a unique piece of Australian GT history as its first three-time champion.
Quinn won his first title in 2012 at the wheel of a Porsche 911 GT3-R, taking four victories among nine podiums throughout the course of the season.
The following year he backed up the effort, joining David Wall as the only man to have won back-to-back Australian GT Championships.
In total, Quinn accumulated 13 Australian GT Championship race wins from 88 starts, racking up his first at the opening round of the 2011 season in Adelaide.
In the 12 victories that followed all but three were around non-permanent facilities – a double at Queensland Raceway in 2013 and honours at Highlands in 2015 his only wins around a permanent race track.
However, around the streets of Townsville, Surfers Paradise and Adelaide Quinn was almost unstoppable, sweeping four consecutive victories at Adelaide from 2011-2012.
Fifth on the all-time winner’s list, Quinn’s career marks him out as one of the most successful drivers in Australian GT Championship history, and the first three-time Champion (2012, 2013, 2016).
At the end of 2016 Quinn announced he would step away from driving as he looks to spend more time with his family, though one feels that won’t mark the end of his Australian GT story.
