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NEWS
MOTORSPORT: A title for Erebus, but enduro eludes it
Richard Muscat has won three national titles in three years, each time as a rookie. His latest success has given Betty Klimenko an Australian GT ChampionshipErebus Motorsport has struggled in its two seasons in V8 Supercar racing, but it has just won its first Australian GT Championship, in New Zealand – then lost an endurance race there as its Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG ran out of fuel.
The 22-year-old Perth-born Victorian driver Richard Muscat won both races at the final round of the championship at NZ's new Highlands circuit to clinch the title for Betty Klimenko's outfit.
Muscat looked headed for victory in the three-hour Highlands 101 too on Sunday, when he was paired with Craig Baird, but had to slow to save fuel and then ran dry on the last lap as V8 Supercar ace Garth Tander motored by to take the win in an Aston Martin Vantage that almost had gone a lap down.
Tander shared the Vantage with circuit owner Tony Quinn, who had won the first Highlands 101 last year with one of NZ's V8 Supercar stars, Fabian Coulthard.
Muscat and his co-driver Craig Baird led 90 of the 101 laps in the event this time.
Shane Van Gisbergen led early in the McLaren MP4-12C he shared with Klark Quinn but it succumbed to gearbox problems before one-third distance.
Rod Salmon and Nathan Antunes finished second in an Audi R8 and Steven Richards and Justin McMillan third in a Lamborghini Gallardo.
The Chevrolet Camaro that Craig Lowndes shared with Inky Tullock was fifth, behind the Audi of Peter Fitzgerald and Michael Almond – both two laps down, as was the sixth-placed Audi of Warren Luff and Steven McLaughlan.
Earlier in the weekend Muscat had secured the GT Championship, having translated his 32-point lead before the final round into a 53-point victory over title rival Tony Quinn with his successes in the two races, both scheduled to run for 40 minutes.
Tander, who also partnered Quinn in those races, initially reduced Muscat's advantage to 30 points by taking pole position.
However, Muscat claimed maximum points in the races and stretched his season tally of wins in the series to seven.
He has now won a national title three years in a row – each time as a rookie. In 2012 it was in the Porsche 944 series and last year in the Porsche GT3 Cup.
In the first of the weekend's GT races at Highlands John Bowe finished second, in the Ferrari 458 that won this year's Bathurst 12-Hour, with Quinn and Tander third.
The race was cut short after the category's Ascari KZR-1 driven by Keith Kassulke had a brake failure and embedded itself in a tyre wall at one of the fastest parts of the circuit.
Van Gisbergen had started from the rear of the field and overtook half the field on the opening lap.
Tander led the early part of the final race of the championship before handing over to Tony Quinn, but a couple of laps after the compulsory pitstops Muscat pounced at one of the trickiest parts of the circuit and the Merc crossed the line three seconds clear of the Vantage followed by Bowe's Ferrari, the McLaren and the new Bentley Continental of Peter Edwards.
Rod Salmon earned his maiden AGT title in the Trophy class, while Ben Foessel and Mark Griffith retained the titles they won in the Challenge class and GT Sports last year.
Meanwhile, Tasmanians Eddie Maguire and Peter Nunn won the Modern and Classic sections of Victoria's Targa High Country.
Maguire drove a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX with former Targa Tasmania winner Steve Glenney in the co-driver seat.
Nunn's success in his 1985 Porsche 944 turbo was his first Targa victory.
Picture of Craig Baird's 2013 Erebus Motorsport SLS courtesy of GTHO/Wikimedia Commons
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Written byGeoffrey Harris
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