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GT: Controversy Mars Opening Australian GT Round
A political mess has shrouded the opening round of the Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli...
Sam Tickell  |  Posted February 14, 2013  
Defending Australian GT Champion Klark Quinn took victory in the opening round of the season, which ran as part of the Bathurst 12 Hour. (Photo: Australian GT)
A political mess has shrouded the opening round of the Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli as the crews took part in the first 50-minute race of the Championship.

The race took place as part of the opening minutes of the Liqui-Moly Bathrust 12 Hour, with 14 crews nominating for points in the race. Five cars would pull out after 50 minutes and not complete the 12 Hour event.

The teams could put any of their nominated 12 Hour drivers in for the GT event and all drivers in that car would score points, rather than just the driver in the car.

The race would run without pitstops.

All was fine. Star drivers like Mika Salo (Maranello), Greg Murphy (Trofeo) and Tim Slade (Erebus) would start the race.

A number of incidents including a major accident for Tony Quinn in the Darrel Lea Aston Martin would bring a number of yellows to the race. Quinn would suffer a couple of broken ribs in the multicar accident on Conrod.

Due to the incidents, the race only ran a handful of laps under green and Mika Salo in the Maranello Motorsports Ferrari would cross the line first - under yellow flag conditions.

It was thought that was that but the results of the race were not released until about eight hours after the race finish and at that time, defending Champion, Klark Quinn was the winner. Maranello had been demoted to second.

“How good’s that, it was certainly action packed," Quinn said after the race. "It wasn’t expected, but I’ll take every win I can. To win at Bathurst, no matter what race you’re in or what car you’re in is fantastic, I’m really proud.

“I didn’t have any nasty moments, the car’s going pretty good but we’re having a few brake issues which is just me pushing a little bit too hard for a 12-hour, I just needed to back off a little bit.”

The reason for the penalty for Maranello was down to ‘seeding rules’ but why it was applied to Salo and not other seeded drivers was not clear. Additionally, the time penalty was not specified in any releases from GT Management, preferring to also not release time gaps in the post race communications.

Runners in Class B - the GT4/Cup Car class would be beset by bad luck with one of the Ginettas drvien by Mark Griffith being caught up in an incident with the 12 Hour field.

“My contact was light,” Griffith admitted afterwards. “It looked worse, but I actually threw the car sideways to brush off speed because I was trapped by all the cars going down the inside of the Porsche as it spun. I took a bit of a knock, but I’m alright and damage to the car is superficial.”

Ben Fossell would take out the category in his Porsche but his joy for the win would be tempered by time under safety car.

The Australian GT Championship has changed many rules in 2013, including the tire rules (now a sole supplier) and has different people leading the class. This race was not one they would want to follow into the future and they have a lot of soul searching to do before the Championship rolls onto Clipsal (Adelaide) in on 28 February to 3 March.

RESULTS:
1. Quinn/Quinn/Van Gisbergen (VIP Petfoods Porsche Type 997 GT3-R) - 14-laps

2. Edwards/Bowe/Simonsen/Salo (Il Bello Rosso Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)

3. Manolios/Murphy/Capelli (Chevrolet Corvette Z06.R GT3) 

4. Koutsoumidis/McInnes/Middleton/O’Young (Equity-One Audi R8 LMS)

5. McMillan/Richards/Lilley (GB Galvanizing Lamborghini Gallardo LP600)

6. Salmon/Lowndes/Luff (Skwirk.com.au Audi R8 LMS ultra)

7. Weng Sun/Baird/Griffin (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)

8. Slade/Holdsworth/Hackett (Erebus Racing Mercedes Benz AMG SLS GT3)

9. Schneider/Jaeger/Roloff (Erebus Racing Mercedes Benz AMG SLS GT3)

10. Tony Quinn (VIP Petfoods Aston Martin Vantage GT3) - 11-laps

11. Lago/Russell/Kox (JBS Swift Lamborghini Gallardo LP600)

12. Michael Hovey (ESP Print Management Ginetta G50 GT4) 
- 13-laps

13. Ben Foessel (Motor School Porsche Type 996 GT3 Cup)

14. Mark Griffith (Griffith Corporation Ginetta G50 GT4)
- 5-laps


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