Italians at the Clipsal 500, South Australia, 3-6 March 2016

Story and photos by Vince Johnson

March sees the official start of autumn in Australia but no one had told the city of Adelaide. In the near-century (38C) temperatures, the Holden, Ford, Nissan and Volvo V8 Supercars rolled into town for their opening event of the year. Annually, the streets and parklands on the eastern edge of the South Australian capital are transformed for four days, with a full program over seven classes of racing.

The meeting is also the first round of the Australian GT Championships. Germany and Great Britain had the numbers over the Italians. With six Audis, two BMWs, five McLarens, five Mercedes and three Porsches lined up against four Lamborghinis and a sole Ferrari, it was no surprise that at the end of qualifying they occupied the first five places on the grid for Friday’s race.

2015 champion Christopher Mies put the JAMEC PEM Audi R8 LMS he was sharing with Geoff Emery on pole from Craig Baird/Scott Taylor’s Mercedes Benz AMG GT. The Tekno McLarens of Nathan Antunes/Elliot Barbour and Nathan Morcom filled row 2 in front of James Koundouris/Marcus Marshall’s Audi and Roger Lago’s Lamborghini Gallardo R-EX.

Melbourne-based Maranello Motorsport had entered their Ferrari 458 but difficulty in finding a suitable replacement after a late driver switch to the Tekno outfit caused its withdrawal. The four Lamborghinis were entered in the class-leading Championship FIA GT3 category, as were the Germans and the Brits, with locals Brenton Griguol/Tim Macrow (Koala Racing Ferrari F430 GT3) and Keith Wong (Porsche GT3) in the Trophy category for older cars. Almost an Italian, Keith’s car is prepared by Adelaide’s Veloce Motorsport, alongside his older Ferrari 360 Challenge.

The three races were each scheduled to run for 38 minutes + 1 lap. Race 1 saw Baird take control for seven laps until the safety car compressed the field. After the required pit stop, with its handicapped stationary period designed to even the gap between professional and amateur drivers, Lago took over and held the lead to the finish, giving Lamborghini its first Australian GT win in eight years.

Race 2 got underway mid-morning on Saturday with Lago in front but the pit stop and two safety car periods again shuffled the field. After the second safety car, the Kondouris/Marshall Audi led Mies/Emery home to an Audi 1-2 finish, with Lago grabbing third on the final lap.

Sunday’s race was the first event of the day and following the pit stops, Lago took over the lead from Baird. En route to his second win, slower traffic at turn four on the final lap caused him to use the run-off road. Returning to the track, his right rear wheel found the unforgiving concrete wall, leaving him stranded, while Tony Walls (McLaren 650S GT3) scored his maiden win from Glen Wood/Justin McMillan’s Lamborghini R-EX and Matthew Solomon’s Mercedes Benz AMG GT.

The heavens opened later in the day, bringing a thunderstorm deluge that suspended the third of the weekend’s V8 Supercar races. The silver lining was that by then the GT crews had their cars all safely under cover or tucked away in the transporters. After the three Adelaide races the Wood/McMillan Lamborghini leads Lago’s similar car in the points standings from the Walls McLaren. The battle continued at the Australian F1 meeting in Melbourne later in the month.

Full results at http://australiangt.com.au/