Aus GT

[Muzza]

Cool, read somewhere there are surposed to be a few more Moslers over here for next year as well.......
Can only hope with the extra cars it mite get some better air time

[73coupe]

This gives a better picture on all the cars competing for the 2010 season.

     
FULL GRID FOR SEASON OPENER OF VODKA O AUSTRALIAN  GT CHAMPIONSHIP AT CLIPSAL 500 ADELAIDE

January 25, 2010
The full might of the 2010 Vodka O Australian GT Championship is to be unleashed on the streets of Adelaide as a fully subscribed grid contests Round 1 at the Clipsal 500 to be held from March 11-14.

‘The growth in our category has been truly phenomenal in the past two years to the point that for the 2010 season it has been necessary to revise the marque (manufacturer) limit numbers in the GT Championship division, GT Directors Rachael Wagg, Martin Wagg and Terry Little said today.

‘The Championship division will now feature a maximum of five entries running Lamborghini Gallardo GT3, Porsche GT3 997 Cup S, and Dodge Viper GT3.

Four Mosler MT900 GT3 positions are filled with the two positions for Aston Martin DBRS9 and Maserati Trofeo GT3 also taken. Single positions for Porsche GT3 997 Cup Car, Audi R8 GT3 and Lotus Exige GT3 have also been allocated.

Australian GT holds the sole rights to invite new competitors with marques not currently competing in the Championship or high profile local/international individuals. 

This line-up, together with strong entries in the GT Challenge and GT Production divisions, sets the scene to make the 2010 Vodka O Australian GT Championship among the strongest sports car series running anywhere in the world’, the elated GT Management team added.

Reigning 2009 GT champions David Wall (GT Championship), Jordan Ormsby (GT Challenge) and Paul Freestone (GT Production) all return to defend their titles, but the competition has never been stronger for the three tiered Championship.

Mark Eddy who captured the 2008 Championship will be behind the wheel of an Audi R8 GT3, while another former champion Greg Crick will be returning to the fray in a Dodge Viper GT3. Crick has also entered another two GT3 Vipers for the season , with drivers to be announced soon.

Other outright championship contenders include the father and son duo of Tony and Klark Quinn who have the choice of three cars by way of two Mosler MT900 GT3 models and the VIP Petfood Aston Martin DBRS9. Tony Quinn recently acquired the two Moslers from John Briggs.

Jim Richards (Porsche GT3 997 Cup Car) is another welcome returnee to the Championship as are brothers Theo and James Koundouris, Max Twigg, and Marc Cini – all in Porsche GT3 997 Cup S models - and will surely make an impact in the Championship chase.

Ross Lilley and Ian Palmer in their Dodge Viper GT3’s will also be strong contenders while Ash Samadi will be running a Mosler MT900 GT3 along with Andrew Macpherson.

The Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 ‘fleet’ consists of entries for Dean Grant, Ted Huglin, Andrew Taplin, Peter Hill, and Ross Zampatti, while Rod Wilson will pilot a Maserati Trofeo model. Angelo Lazaris will be behind the wheel of his Lotus Exige GT3.  Making a welcome return to the opening rounds of the season is Irish international Hector Lestor who will be running a Ferrari 430 GT3.

In the GT Challenge division Jordan Ormsby (Porsche GT3 RS) can expect plenty of competition from a grid including fellow Porsche drivers Michael Loccisano, Paul Tresidder, Simon Middleton, Shane Smollen, and Ray Angus, and more.

The Corvette Z06 of Paul Freestone will be joined by an identical car for Barrie Nesbitt, and Tony Alford will again drive his Nissan GTR R35 with Timothy Poulton contesting the GT Production division in a Lotus Exige S.

The field will expand yet again for Round 2 of the Vodka O Australian GT Championship at the F1 Australian Grand Prix just two weeks after Adelaide.

[73coupe]

More good news for 2010

ASCARI JOINS 2010 VODKA 0 AUSTRALIAN GT CHAMPIONSHIP

Ascari, one of the world’s most exclusive car manufacturers is to join the ranks of the 2010 Vodka O Australian GT Championship.

ascari.bmp

The British built car, that is eligible for the FIA GT3 Series, has been added to the list of cars able to compete in the Australian GT Championship.

The first of two cars being brought into the country will compete at Round 1 of the 2010 Vodka O Australian GT Championship to be held at the Clipsal 500 Adelaide from March 11-14 in the hands of Darren Berry

The owner of Clipper Motor Yachts in Queensland , Berry has previously run in Mini Challenge and Aussie Racing Cars in addition to owning and competing in the ex-Greg Crick Australian GT Championship winning Dodge Viper.

The Ascari cars purchased by Berry competed successfully in the FIA GT Championship in Europe run by DAMAX with support from Ascari and are two of only seven GT3 models of the marque to have been built.

Berry will base his Australian GT Championship team in Queensland with car preparation in the hands of Alan Mathews and Mick Arnold.

Sponsorship of the Berry car will come from Clipper Motor yachts, with other backing expected in the near future.

‘I selected the Ascari to race in the 2010 Vodka O Australian GT Championship on the basis that it has been very successful in the FIA and British GT Championships and that it is a highly desirable and unique car.

Its mid-engined BMW power plant is brilliant as is the carbon fibre chassis. The car will probably be better than me certainly initially, but where ever it is in the field it will certainly attract plenty of attention’, a modest Berry said today.

The first of the two cars is expected to arrive in Australia in the next ten days with the second due at the end of March.

Designated as the KZ1R model, the GT3 version of the Ascari is named after the initials of Ascari owner Klaas Zwart, a wealthy Dutch businessman. The cars are constructed in Banbury in the UK .

The car features a 5 litre BMW V8 engine mated to a 6-speed sequential gearbox and showed its capability by taking the title in the 2009 Avon Tyres British GT Championship in the hands of twin brothers David and Godfrey Jones with three outright wins.

Named after Albert Ascari, the world’s first double Formula 1 champion, Ascari also operates an exclusive ‘race resort’ in Spain .

[Muzza]

Another tid bit for the GT's and a big bouns for the 2011 12hour

The 2011 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour will be open to vehicles eligible to compete under the Australian GT Championship rules.

The expansion of the event was jointly announced at the Australian Grand Prix by the Directors of Australian GT and Bathurst 12 Hour Promoter James O’Brien.

“The GT Championship has grown tremendously in recent years and these vehicles will now join production cars in the 12 Hour Race enabling the event to grow further including the attraction of an international audience,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien also said that when the 12 Hour was reintroduced in 2007, the intention was there to incorporate GT vehicles, however, the timing had to be right.

With close to 30 FIA GT3-spec cars now in Australia, plus the other two classes within the Australian GT Championship showing healthy numbers, the timing couldn’t be better.

“The Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour has the capacity for a 72 car grid, and with 42 cars entered for the 2010 event we are targeting a 50 plus entry for 2011,” he said.

All divisions within Australian GT, namely GT Championship (GT3), GT Challenge, and GT Production will be eligible. Other production cars that have competed in the 12 Hour over the past four years will still be eligible to compete.

Australian GT participation in the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour will be as a stand alone event and will not be part of the 2011 Vodka O GT Championship that is likely to commence again at the Clipsal 500 Adelaide.

The inclusion of GT cars has been endorsed by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS).

The chances of international drivers and teams participating in the race is high with Irish international driver Hector Lester greeting the news enthusiastically.

“If the event is promoted well to overseas drivers well in advance they will be interested,” Lester said.

“There is absolutely no downside to the announcement and the timing of such an event means it is possible for internationals to consider it’,

Tony Quinn, a veteran of two Bathurst 24 hours races and three Bathurst 12 hour events in addition to competing at Nurburgring is thrilled.

‘In global terms Bathurst is an iconic circuit,” he said.

“There will be no problem running GT cars with production cars at a circuit like Bathurst and I will be there with the Mosler and will most likely also enter another car’, Quinn added.

The fifth running of the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour will be held in February next year.

[Oldtony]

An absoloutly disastrous idea from both Production car and GT points of view.
The addition of the GTs will kill the potential entries from Production stone dead cutting out the gradually increasing interest from the trade, dea;ers, manufacturers and importers. Who is going to invest in preping an SS, and XR8 or 6, WRX, EVO, BMW 135i, MX3, etc to get no recognition other than possibly being seen getting lapped by a Porsche.
For the GTs, which I love with a passion it will also be a disater. Remember these are being raced in Australia as rich boys toys with the rules of the series actively discouraging or penalising "star" or graded professional drivers. These guys spend their time making money and they are very good at it. That gives us the opportunity and privilege to watch some pretty classy machinery racing but , as demonstrated at both Clipsal and the AGP the driving standards, discipline and concentration levels are hardly up to the requirement of running 12hrs at Bathurst. With it being the opening of the year I get the impression that there will not be mant GT cars left to run the rest of the year.
The other problem is what is going to happen to the eligibility list? The slow end of the production class will have to be trimmed for safety reasons. What is the ruling going to be on tyres. Currently the GTs are on slicks and the Prod cars on treads making the incompatibilty even greater. The 72 track capacity for Bathurst might work for a 5 lap sprint, but from an enduro point of view where is the pit space if a safety car gets called. Do they take it in turns?
Sorry, badly thought out knee jerk idea. It has potentialy killed off the development of a much needed production car showcase, and will be a financial and PR disaster for GT.

[bpratt]

I tend to agree with you.

The AGP was a mess with drivers failing to start properly in race 2, and then race 3 we had a driver with countless years experience stopping his car on the track surface, only to be cleaned up by another driver attempting to overtake in a yellow flag zone.

Australian GT and Production cars should never have been mixed in together.