It was another great weekend for Allan Simonson as he won the round
The Australian GT Championship made its Clipsal 500 debut in early March
with huge success. The category was overwhelmingly popular with spectators
and fans and the GT show impressed many, including the Clipsal
management.
NATRAD Lamborghini Gallardo
The Australian debut of the Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 in the hands of Natrad
driver Bryce Washington was a highlight of the Clipsal event. The debut of the
Gallardo is the second FIA GT3 eligible car in addition to the Ferrari 430 and
was a crowd favourite. Swarms of fans surrounded the stunning Gallardo for
most of the event trying to catch a glimpse of a car never seen before in the
country. The Washington Gallardo was flown out from Europe late in the week
leading up to Clipsal. It was sign written that weekend, tested on the Tuesday
and at the track late Wednesday night ready for its debut the following
morning. The car suffered electronic gremlins and gear issues but fought back
through the field to take two 3rd positions in races 2 & 3…a sign of what’s to
come!
Huge congratulations go to the entire crew who turned the car around from
delivery to being on track in less than one week!
Star Performances
Mark Eddy made the debut of his new Ferrari 360 after purchasing it from Neil
Bryson over the summer break. Eddy had a brilliant weekend and drove
superbly earning much praise amongst the paddock.
Local driver Gary Dann was another to impress finishing 4th overall for the
round after avoiding carnage, coming out unscathed for an impressive result
The race between David Wall and Allan Simonsen in Race 2 was one that will
never be forgotten! The professionalism and respect the two drivers displayed
was commendable and opened many eyes! Well done guys!
Weekend’s they would rather forget!
Greg Ward’s weekend ended in dramatic fashion after getting unstuck
through turn 1 and hitting the tyre wall. Wards car was badly damaged and
out of the weekend before the racing had even begun. We wish Greg Luck in
getting the car fixed for the next event.
Scott Bargwanna was another that did not reach race day. The Lotus Elise,
owned by fellow Lotus driver Peter Lucas blew an engine in qualifying which
was visibly terminal by looking at the size of the hole in the engine!
John Kaias sustained serious damage after a lap 1 accident in race 1 on
Saturday after he made contact with Hector Lester. The accident ended
John’s weekend.
Matt Turnbull and Blake Lynn came together at turn one, as a result Turnbull
spun and was hit by Lynn again, sustaining enough damage to the roll cage
to end his weekend prematurely.
All in all the Clipsal event was one GT as a category will never forget! We were
able to showcase our category to one of the biggest audiences in Australian
motorsport and are confident the demand for the GT’s will see us grid up
bigger and better in 2007!