2016 Australian GT Championship
2016 Australian GT Championship season | |||
Previous: | 2015 | Next: | 2017 |
The 2016 Australian GT Championship will be a CAMS-sanctioned Australian motor racing championship open to FIA GT3 cars and similar cars as approved for the championship. The season will begin on 3 March 2016 at the Adelaide Street Circuit and will end on 13 November at Highlands Motorsport Park and will be the 20th running of the Australian GT Championship, with some of the races held in New Zealand.
The season will mark an expansion in Australian GT, with a separate endurance championship, the CAMS Australian Endurance Championship, being run for the first time. There will also be a third series for older-specification GT3 and GT4 class cars called the CAMS Australian GT Trophy Series.[1]
The Australian GT Championship events will be held in support of V8 Supercar events, as part of rounds of the Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships and as self-promoted events. The Australian Endurance Championship will also share events with V8 Supercars and the Shannons Nationals, though its final two rounds will be at Hampton Downs and Highlands Motorsport Park, both owned by series owner Tony Quinn. The Australian GT Trophy Series will run exclusively at Shannons Nationals events.[1]
Contents
Divisions
The 2016 season will include three separate championships:
- CAMS Australian GT Championship, shorter races for current-specification GT3 cars.
- CAMS Australian Endurance Championship, longer endurance races featuring multiple drivers and current-specification GT3 cars.
- CAMS Australian GT Trophy Series, shorter races for older-specification GT3 and GT4 cars.
All competitors are able to enter the Australian GT Championship and the Australian Endurance Championship, and all are eligible to win the categories outright, however only older-specification cars may enter the Australian GT Trophy Series.
Teams and drivers
The following teams and drivers have taken part during the season.[2][3]
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- Walkinshaw Racing will enter the Australian GT Championship with a factory-supported Porsche team.[4] John Martin was confirmed as the driver for the Australian GT Championship, and will be joined by Duvashen Padayachee for the Australian Endurance Championship rounds.[5]
- Former series runner-up Peter Hackett returned to the series with a Mercedes-AMG GT3. Hackett led a two-car team with factory support from Mercedes AMG, operated by Eggleston Motorsport.[6] Scott Taylor Motorsport will also run a Mercedes-AMG GT3.
- V8 Supercar team Tekno Autosports ran three McLaren 650S GT3s.[7]
- BMW entered the championship with Steven Richards and Max Twigg driving the team's BMW M6 GT3.[8] Ricky Capo will run a privately-entered BMW Z4 GT3.[9]
- A Ferrari 488 GT3 was campaigned by Vicious Rumour Racing from the second round of the Australian GT Championship after the car was received in late February.[10]
- Trofeo Motorsport will run a pair of Lamborghini Huracán GT3s from mid-season onwards.[11]
Race calendar
The Australian GT Championship will be contested over six rounds, the Australian Endurance Championship over four rounds and the Australian GT Trophy Series over five rounds. Each race, with the exception of the Australian Grand Prix round of the Australian GT Championship, will include at least one compulsory timed pit stop.[1] The exception is the Australian Grand Prix round where drivers seeded time is added to the final race time.
Australian GT Championship | |||||
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Round | Circuit | Location | Race format | Date | Winners |
1 | Adelaide Street Circuit | Adelaide, South Australia | 3 x 40 minute | 3–6 March | Justin McMillan Glen Wood |
2 | Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit | Melbourne, Victoria | 4 x 25 minute | 17–20 March | Christopher Mies Geoff Emery |
3 | Barbagallo Raceway | Perth, Western Australia | 2 x 60 minute | 6–8 May | |
4 | Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit | Phillip Island, Victoria | 2 x 60 minute | 27–28 May | |
5 | Townsville Street Circuit | Townsville, Queensland | 2 x 60 minute | 8–10 July | |
6 | Highlands Motorsport Park | Cromwell, New Zealand | 2 x 60 minute | 11–12 November | |
Australian GT Trophy Series | |||||
Round | Circuit | Location | Race format | Date | Winners |
1 | Sandown Raceway | Melbourne, Victoria | 2 x 50 minute | 1–3 April | Greg Taylor Barton Mawer |
2 | Winton Motor Raceway | Benalla, Victoria | 2 x 50 minute | 10–12 June | |
3 | Sydney Motorsport Park | Eastern Creek, New South Wales | 2 x 50 minute | 1–3 July | |
4 | Queensland Raceway | Ipswich, Queensland | 2 x 50 minute | 29–31 July | |
5 | Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit | Phillip Island, Victoria | 2 x 50 minute | 9–11 September | |
Australian Endurance Championship | |||||
Round | Circuit | Location | Race format | Date | Winners |
1 | Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit | Phillip Island, Victoria | 1 x 101 laps | 28–29 May | |
2 | Sydney Motorsport Park | Eastern Creek, New South Wales | 1 x 101 laps | 26–28 August | |
3 | Hampton Downs Motorsport Park | Waikato, New Zealand | 1 x 101 laps | 28–30 October | |
4 | Highlands Motorsport Park | Cromwell, New Zealand | 1 x 101 laps | 13 November |
Race results
Australian GT Championship
Round | Circuit | Pole Position | Race 1 Winner | Race 2 Winner | Race 3 Winner | Race 4 Winner |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Adelaide | No. 1 JAMEC PEM Racing | No. 23 JBS Australia | No. 4 Supabarn Supermarkets | No. 11 Objective Racing | not contested |
Christopher Mies Geoff Emery |
Roger Lago | James Koundouris Marcus Marshall |
Tony Walls | |||
2 | Albert Park | No. 1 JAMEC PEM Racing | No. 222 Scott Taylor Motorsport | No. 60 Tekno Autosports | No. 38 Eggleston Motorsport | No. 4 Supabarn Supermarkets |
Christopher Mies Geoff Emery |
Scott Taylor Craig Baird |
Nathan Morcom | Matthew Solomon | James Koundouris Marcus Marshall |
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3 | Barbagallo | No. 1 JAMEC PEM Racing | No. 2 JAMEC PEM Racing | No. 222 Scott Taylor Motorsport | not contested | |
Marco Bonanomi Geoff Emery |
Steve McLaughlan | Scott Taylor Craig Baird |
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4 | Phillip Island | |||||
5 | Townsville | |||||
6 | Highlands | |||||
Australian GT Trophy Series
Round | Circuit | Pole Position | Race 1 Winner | Race 2 Winner |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sandown | No. 66 Melbourne Performance Centre | No. 1 Adina Apartment Hotels | No. 1 Adina Apartment Hotels |
Garth Rainsbury Ben Porter |
Greg Taylor Barton Mawer |
Greg Taylor Barton Mawer |
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2 | Winton | |||
3 | Sydney | |||
4 | Ipswich | |||
5 | Phillip Island | |||
Australian GT Championship
Round 1: Clipsal 500
Christopher Mies secured pole position in qualifying ahead of Craig Baird.[12]
The opening race was won by Roger Lago who benefited from a safety car when Hayden Cooper got his Lamborghini stuck in the gravel trap at Turn 11. Lago's shorter pit stop time allowed him to leap the pack before passing Scott Taylor to take the win. Nathan Morcom was second with the McLaren of Tony and Klark Quinn in third. The Lamborghini of Dean Canto and Andrew Taplin was excluded for running underweight.[13]
Race 2 saw James Koundouris and Marcus Marshall take victory. Again a shorter pit stop time allowed the pair to jump free from the pack to hold on to a commanding lead for much of the race. However, a late race safety car bunched the pack and saw Geoff Emery in the #1 Audi R8 push him in a final two lap sprint to the finish. Roger Lago finished third while an opening lap accident for Keith Wing saw the Porsche of John Martin and Aaron Tebb and Rod Salmon's Audi all eliminated at Turn 9. Mark Griffith also failed to finish after a water pump seized following contact with Morcom earlier in the race. Emery and Mies were given a post-race time penalty which dropped them to eighteenth place.[14]
The final race saw Roger Lago dominate the second half of proceedings, only to run off on the final lap and damage his Lamborghini while attempting to rejoin. That allowed Tony Walls through to first place and his first Australian GT victory. The second-placed Lamborghini of Justin McMillan and Glen Wood pushed Walls hard in the closing stages but wasn't able to get through. Debutante Matthew Solomon ended the race third.[15] Solomon's Eggleston Motorsport team-mate Peter Hackett crashed heavily on the opening lap with James Koundouris and was excluded from the weekend and fined $20,000.[16]
Championship standings
Australian GT Championship
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Bold - Pole position |
Notes:
- ^1 – ineligible for championship points at Adelaide.
Gold Driver Cup
The Gold Driver Cup is for drivers over 40 years of age, competing solo and ranked Pro 4 or below.[17]
Pos. | Driver | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Roger Lago | 341 |
2 | Tony Walls | 327 |
3 | Greg Taylor | 283 |
4 | Steve McLaughlan | 271 |
5 | Mark Griffith | 207 |
6 | Ash Samadi | 192 |
6 | Andrew Macpherson | 165 |
8 | Rod Salmon | 89 |
References
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