Melbourne Performance
Centre Press Release
Audi triumph in maiden race at Highlands Motorsport
Park
Rnd#6 2013 Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli
Highlands Motorsport Park, Cromwell, NZ
9 November, 2013
Rnd#6 2013 Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli
Highlands Motorsport Park, Cromwell, NZ
9 November, 2013
The Melbourne Performance Centre team had enjoyed a mixed season during the 2013 Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli, but during the final round of the at the new state-of-the-art Highlands Motorsport Park in New Zealand’s south island, it all came together.
Joined by rookie driver Liam Talbot for the second
time in two rounds, Audi R8 regular Rod Salmon - a two-time Bathurst 12-Hour
winner - won the very first race at the new circuit after weathering a storm
unleashed by some of the region’s leading V8 Supercar drivers.
The foundations of the team’s maiden win was set in
qualifying after a sterling effort by rookie Liam Talbot, his 1:37.843 enough
to give the team the fifth placed starting position - the 2012 ultra the first
non 2013-spec GT3 car in the field.
Off the fifth row, Talbot started the car, quickly
locking onto a train of cars battling over second position, including the
McLaren MP4-12C of Greg Murphy.
“Afterwards they told me it was the former Bathurst
1000 winner behind the wheel, but I didn’t believe it,” Talbot admitted. “He
was holding me up, and as we came towards the compulsory pit stop, I thought
about making a move, but in the end just followed the pack down pit lane to
hand over to Rod.”
By virtue of the seedings of their professional
co-drivers, the bulk of the cars in front of the Skwirk.com.au Audi were forced to stop
for longer as the category parity adjustments came into play, Salmon rejoining
immediately behind race leader Klark Quinn.
A late race Safety Car period to recover a car that
had caught fire allowed the field to bunch up, Salmon still holding second was
placed perfectly for the restart.
Almost immediately once the Safety Car withdrew
from the circuit, Salmon found his way past the ailing VIP Petfoods Porsche
which was suffering a slowly deflating tyre.
With one of New Zealand’s best V8 Supercar drivers
in hot pursuit in a 2013 Aston Martin Vantage, Salmon held his own, putting in
one of the best drives of the year to hold Supercar star Fabian Coulthard at
bay to take one of the most popular wins of the season.
“How good’s that,” Salmon beamed. “I could see
Coulthard coming, but I just focused on getting every apex right and making the
most out of the Audi’s speed through the tight section of the circuit.
“Liam had really set the foundations for that win,
it couldn’t have played out any better.”
Whilst Salmon and Talbot celebrated victory,
stable-mates Dean Koutsoumidis and Andrew McInnes were enjoying their own quiet
celebration after claiming seventh outright in the Equity-One/Biowrap.com.au
Audi R8 LMS, although the mood was a little more subdued, with Salmon’s victory
vaulting him above Koutsoumidis in the race for the final step on the championship
podium.
“There’s still one race to go,” Dean Koutsoumidis
was quick to remind his team-mates.. and his warning very nearly proved
prophetic…
By virtue of their race one victory, the orange
Audi held the advantage off the start of race two, leading the Aston through
the opening ‘bus-stop’ chicane before being relegated to second.
Salmon did everything in his power to keep the
field at bay, but ultimately fell to the hard charging Porsche of champion
elect Klark Quinn.
Behind him Andrew McInnes was on a mission, moving
through the field to be fourth and in pursuit of his R8 team-mate within a
handful of laps.
“I knew I had to get close to Rod [Salmon] to keep
the championship points battle alive, so I did what I could to get through the
pack as quickly as possible.”
Salmon - along with the race leaders - were first
to make their compulsory pit stops leaving McInnes in control at the front of
the field. He pressed on and held a huge advantage as his time to pit
approached, but he was sadly unable to press his advantage after a late braking
move on a back marker, the Equity-One Audi ultimately bogged in the gravel trap
on the exit of the final corner.
Many expected a Safety Car to be called to extract
the R8, but race control elected for double yellow flags, allowing officials to
recover the car, in the process losing valuable laps, the team retiring the car
shortly after.
“I knew I shouldn’t have been on the slippery part
of the circuit, but I thought I could pull it up in time,” a somber McInnes
admitted. “It was my fault, I just didn’t have any grip. I’m more disappointed
for Dean [Koutsoumidis] and the team because we were well in contention.”
Despite the setback, the MPC team were able to
continue their celebrations with Liam Talbot working his way through to third
place after the compulsory stop and with it, enough points to classify the Skwirk.com.au Audi second overall for the
event, and third for the championship.
“That’s brilliant,” an elated Rod Salmon beamed.
“It has been such a mixed year, but we’ve come good at the right time, and to
finish the season in third place is full credit to the Melbourne Performance
Centre team, and all our guys. It’s also great credit to the versatility of the
Audi. This is a new circuit that nobody has ever competed on before, and
against some of the best GT cars in the world, we’ve come through with a victory
and a second podium, I couldn’t be happier.”
Whilst that would have been more than enough to
celebrate on a weekend with so much to offer, the Melbourne Performance Centre
found another reason to celebrate after the inaugural ‘Highlands 101’ event, a
101-lap ‘enduro’ around the 4.1-kilometre Highlands circuit. The ‘invitational’
event saw the Australian GT regulars combined with some of New Zealand’s
fastest saloon cars in an ‘all-in’ battle for Highlands supremacy.
After just over three hours, the Skwirk R8 ultra
with V8 Supercar regular Jason Bright joining Salmon and Talbot again worked
its way forward to claim second behind the Aston Martin Vantage of circuit
owner Tony Quinn and Fabian Coulthard, whilst team-mates Koutsoumidis and
McInnes put in a solid drive to claim ninth at the line.
“We got caught out by the Safety Car at one point,
and that put us down the order as a result and a little out of sequence, so it
was a hard run from there. Dean also suffered a little from a failure with
getting any fluid from the drink bottle, so we had to make an unexpected stop
to throw me back in the car,” McInnes admitted.
2013 Australian GT Championship presented by
Pirelli
Qualifying [8 November] Highlands Motorsport Park, Cromwell, NZ
01. 1. Craig Baird - Porsche GT3-R [CHAMP] - 1:34.214
02. 7. Fabian Coulthard - Aston Martin Vantage GT3 [CHAMP] - 1:34.471
03. 88. John Bowe - Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 [CHAMP] - 1:36.325
04. 101. Greg Murphy - McLaren MP4-12C GT3 [CHAMP] - 1:37.079
05. 6. Liam Talbot - Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra [CHAMP] - 1:37.843
06. 007. Andrew Waite - Aston Martin DBRS9 [TROPHY] - 1:37.942
07. 71. Andrew McInnes - Audi R8 LMS GT3 [CHAMP] - 1:39.885
Race#1 - 40-minutes [8
November]
01. 6. Rod Salmon/Liam Talbot - Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra [CHAMP] - 22-laps
02. 7. Tony Quinn/Fabian Coulthard - Aston Martin Vantage GT3 [CHAMP]
03. 101. Greg Murphy/Neil Crompton - McLaren MP4-12C GT3 [CHAMP]
04. 1. Klark Quinn/Craig Baird - Porsche GT3-R [CHAMP]
05. 88. Peter Edwards/John Bowe - Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 [CHAMP]
06. 007. Andrew Waite/Simon Evans - Aston Martin DBRS9 [TROPHY]
07. 71. Dean Koutsoumidis/Andrew McInnes - Audi R8 LMS GT3 [CHAMP]
Race#2 - 40-minutes [9
November]
01. 7. Tony Quinn/Fabian Coulthard - Aston Martin Vantage GT3 [CHAMP] - 24-laps
02. 1. Klark Quinn/Craig Baird - Porsche GT3-R [CHAMP]
03. 6. Rod Salmon/Liam Talbot - Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra [CHAMP]
04. 101. Greg Murphy/Neil Crompton - McLaren MP4-12C GT3 [CHAMP]
05. 88. Peter Edwards/John Bowe - Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 [CHAMP]
DNF. 71. Dean Koutsoumidis/Andrew McInnes - Audi R8 LMS [CHAMP] - 13-laps
01. 7. Tony Quinn/Fabian Coulthard - Aston Martin Vantage GT3 - 101-laps
02. 6. Rod Salmon/Liam Talbot - Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra
03. 88. Peter Edwards/John Bowe - Ferrari 458 Italia GT3
04. 2. Andrew Taplin/Dean Canto - Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 - 100-laps
05. 101. Greg Murphy/Neil Crompton - McLaren MP4-12C
09. 71. Dean Koutsoumidis/Andrew McInnes - Audi R8 LMS [CHAMP] - 97-laps
Keep track of round three of the Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli via the AGT website - www.australiangt.com.au and via Facebook; AustralianGT
