MOTORSPORT: Changes ahead for Australian GT scene

It’s been a week of positive developments for GT racing in Australia.

First came news that the all-new Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3 is headed Down Under for the Bathurst 12-Hour at the start of February.

And then there was confirmation of a change of ownership of the GT category rights in Oz, from Tony Quinn – who has held them since 2011 - to fellow competitor Jim Manolios and his Trofeo Motorsport, which supplies Pirelli tyres to the championship through its role as the official Australian importer.

The other potential big positive is that Craig Lowndes will be available for more GT racing, especially the Bathurst 12-Hour, which he won last year in a Ferrari 488, after he retires from full-time Supercar racing at the end of this season.

The first entries for next year’s 12-Hour, to be run on February 3, are a pair of Aston Martin Vantage V12s from Swiss team R-Motorsport, which first participated at Bathurst’s Mt Panorama in 2013.

“The Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hours is certainly one of the most important and challenging GT long distance races worldwide,” R-Motorsport team principal Dr Florian Kamelger said.

He said the new Vantages have been very competitive in the first three races of this year’s Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup in Europe, winning the second round at Silverstone in Britain.

“There is no better event to debut the exciting new car [in Australia] than the Mountain,” Kamelger said.

They will require homologation and balance-of-performance testing before the race, but David Richards – head of Prodrive, which develops the Vantages, said long ago that homologation is expected in time.

Bathurst 12-Hour event director Kurt Sakzewski said R-Motorsport “are a very professional outfit and their success in the Blancpain GT Endurance series this year is proof of that”.

“The team has become a regular visitor to Bathurst and they have already had class success in the past (third in class C in 2013 with a Vantage GT4 and second in GT4 in 2015 under the Aston Martin St. Gallen banner before running as R-Motorsport in 2017).

“It will be great to watch them challenge for outright victory for the first time.

“Aston Martin’s V12 Vantage GT3 entries are already hugely popular in Australia so we know they will be well supported by our fans.”
Quinn has placed an order for one of the new Vantages.

Meanwhile, his handover of the GT category rights to Lamborghini Huracan GT3 racer Manolios’ Trofeo Motorsport was announced yesterday, with formal confirmation now anticipated from CAMS, which last year rejected a takeover of the rights by Supercars – which now runs the Bathurst 12-Hour but not the Australian GT Championship, Australian Endurance Championship and Australian GT Trophy Series.

Trofeo said it “is excited to become more deeply involved with Australian GT and looks forward to a bright and competitive future for the category”.

“A number of new initiatives will be developed throughout the remainder of the 2018 season and planning for an exciting 2019 schedule is already well underway,” Trofeo said.

However, it said the immediate focus is on the Sydney SuperNight on the first weekend of next month and which is the penultimate round of this year’s Australian GT Championship.

The category then heads to Winton in Victoria for the CAMS Australian GT Trophy Series finale in September, with the Quinn-owned Hampton Downs in New Zealand hosting the final round of the Australian Endurance and Australian GT championships in October.

Long-time GT manager under Quinn, Ken Collier, is expected to continue under the Trofeo ownership, while Quinn has said his services will be available if required and he has committed to racing for at least another three years.

Perth to celebrate all forms of motorsport

WA capital Perth is getting a new ‘Celebration of Motorsport’ to coincide with the finish of the state’s Targa West, which is to be run for the 15th time next month.
The celebration will be held at Langley Park – beside the Swan River and famous for two decades as home to a very special stage of Rally Australia – and complement the city stage of Targa West on that event’s final day, Sunday, August 12, and the already-established Shannons Classics on the Park.

Organiser Ross Tapper says the celebration is open to racing cars of all types and eras and that it will be free to spectators and those wanting to display vehicles or advertise a motorsport-related business.

Supported by the City of Perth, it will run from 8am until 4pm.

Applications from exhibitors close on Monday, August 6, with registration via celebrationofmotorsport.com.au.