By Sam Tickell
The Australian GT Championship came of age in 2007 and the title race was close. A few moments stood out to us at FeedMeSportsCars and here they are in our 2007 review of the Australian GT Championship.
One
The influx of GT3
The Series announced a commitment to the FIA GT3 regulations and that commitment started to pay dividends in 2007. It is obvious that in a country such as Australia, the difficulty to get team owners to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a car that is outside the usual Holden vs Ford family car is a challenge but it started to occur with GT3 Lamborghini’s, Ferrari’s and a Lotus joining the series. The series certainly made an important step in creditability and more importantly, competition. The season to came down to a tense conclusion between a Lamborghini (Washington) and Ferrari (Simonsen). But what was important is that this championship battle was to recognised rules and with a set of cars with real track presence.
Two
Simonsen commits
An international flavour from a driver with true international credentials. This is what the Australian GT got when Dane, Allan Simonsen committed to the full series. He had to rearrange his international commitments but he did so for the chance to become Champion. He claimed that he could have won the title in the past if he had the chance. So, he made the chance and true to his word, he won the title. Importantly for the series, it gave creditability to the performances of the other championship contenders who did challenge the Dane for the title.
Three
Who is this John Bowe fellow?
Another coup for the series was the commitment of Australian legend John Bowe to the series. A veteran of V8 Supercars and an old hand at GT racing, the Tasmanian’s appearance injected more interest in the series. Bowe lived up to the hype too, winning most of the races he entered…
Four
Hang on, where did Bowe go?
…But he did not enter many races. That was not his choice, however. Just days before the final and blue ribbon event of the season, it emerged that the owner of the Team Lamborghini Australia car had sold it, leaving Bowe without a drive. Despite Bowe’s best efforts he could not get a drive in the last race of the season, leaving a bad taste in his, the organisers and fan’s mouths.
Five
Endurance and prestigious trophies
The Sandown GT Classic. The re-emergence of the Australian Tourist Trophy and 3.5 hours of GT racing. That is what the Australian GT Championship bought to the motorsport scene in Australia – all in one weekend in December. And we should be thankful. Although the organisers had some lessons to implement for 2008, the weekend was successful, bringing big names to the series and allowing Simonsen and Tim Lehey to join such names as Sir Stirling Moss as winners of the Australian Tourist Trophy.
Six
The title fight
The GT Championship came down to the final race. Ok, that may not be something out of the ordinary but the fight to the title was. Simonsen raced out to an early lead but once Bryce Washington got his Lamborghini sorted, he made a mighty comeback. Through the form of John Bowe in the mix and the title fight was on. Coming into the final race Simonsen and Washington were equal on points. The pressure was intense and the stakes were so high that top V8 Supercar engineers were recruited by Simonsen to sort the car. In the end Washington’s title hopes went, literally, up in flames, leaving Simonsen to win a tight Championship.
Seven
Michelin wants to supply and sponsor
The series gained the support of big names in 2007. Although Michelin had supplied the series in the past, they stepped up their commitment in 2007 to include a period of title sponsorship and being contracted to supply tyres for the next five years. The French company’s executives are planning to visit the series, extraordinary considering were the Series was a couple years ago.
Eight
The Porsche 911 997 RSR GT3 problem – who has who spooked?
It says a lot. When one series bans cars from competing in another series, even though those particular cars cannot be used, someone is scared. That is exactly what Cup Car Australia did when they banned other series from using GT3 spec 997 Porsches. While Cup Car can only use the Carrera model, they felt it necessary to ban the GT3 spec car in other series, hindering GT car counts. Law suits were threatened and by the end of the season, the issue still had not been resolved.
Nine
Parity
When different cars can run under different rules under such things as grandfather clauses and what not, the speed of the cars needs to be equalised. And that is what the GT Championship did in 2007. Naturally some were not so happy with this and Simonsen was hindered in his Championship battle by this. In the end the complaining sort of petered out but it could have been much more influential in the end.
Ten
Porsche Drivers Challenge
The Australian GT Championship also has contests the Porsche Drivers Challenge for those driving Carrera spec 996 Porsches. Like the father title, this Championship battle was hard fought, with the winner not being determined to the chequered flag at the final round. Sonic Motorsports won the title but not before destroying a car in the Tasmanian round. In a side not, Sonic won every title they entered in 2007 including the Australian F3 title and the Carrera Cup title.
This completes our 2007 review that has seen the Grand Am, ALMS and Le Mans Series, FIA GT and Australian GT reviews. We hope you enjoyed!
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