Skwirk.com.au/MPC Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra
2014 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour
Mount Panorama ,
Bathurst
2014 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour
It all started so
well, the Melbourne Performance Centre [MPC] prepared Skwirk.com.au Audi looked fantastic as it rolled off the
truck at Mount Panorama, and after working on a variety of setup ‘tweaks’ during
Friday’s three practice sessions, car-owner Rod Salmon and 12-Hour team-mates
Warren Luff, Jason Bright and Liam Talbot were more than ready to take on
qualifying and begin their assault on the podium.
Sadly the plan lasted
just two laps before Jason Bright suffered a spin at one of the most
unforgiving parts of the circuit, impacting the wall hard at Reid Park
“An impact like that
requires significant repairs to the chassis, and we just don’t have the
facilities or the time to make repairs that we’d regard as safe enough to
compete properly,” MPC’s Troy Russell confirmed.
The team were
obviously shattered by the result, especially after working so hard to find
what they felt was the ideal setup to be in the mix with the leaders come
5:00pm Sunday afternoon.
“Obviously it’s very
disappointing, but the most important thing is that Brighty is okay,” Warren
Luff confirmed afterwards. “Cars can be repaired, but people are harder to
replace. It’s obviously very unfortunate, and Jason will be incredibly
disappointed, it’s disappointing for the team, but this is what motorsport can
be like sometimes.
“I’ve seen the
on-board footage - there has been a really nasty bump on that corner going into
Reid Park
“It’s my fourth year
here at Audi, but I’ve only had one result - that’s what makes win and podiums
so special because you know what it takes to get there. I think we were in a
really good position for the race tomorrow, the boys have been working really
hard - we were making sure the car was going to be fast right through the race,
we weren’t interested in being heroes in qualifying because it really doesn’t
matter where you start, it’s about being there at the end.
“Obviously the entire
track is far smoother now thanks to the resurfacing, some parts of the track
don’t have any bumps now, but then a lot of people have been saying that there
are new bumps appearing in different places, especially where Jason had his issue,
a lot of people have been complaining that there is a bump right there when the
car is fully loaded. It’s a 170 kmh corner and you now have this bump there
that really upsets the rear of the car.”
For car-owner Rod
Salmon - a two-time Bathurst
“Bathurst
“I gave Luffy and
Brighty a pep talk last night and I said ‘We’re back in 15th, what are we doing
back there?’ They said we were fine and that the track was fine, just to give
them a cold track and we will be in the 2:06’s. When Jason went out he was
already one and a half seconds up [on his best lap time] and he was only a
third of the way around the circuit - he was on for a 2:07 and we would have
been up the top. He was 18 kmh faster around that bend than his fastest
yesterday, and he was 6 kmh faster than any other Audi had been through that
corner - cars have limits and unfortunately he found it.”
For Liam Talbot, his
first time at Bathurst with an outright car had
proven a great experience, and he was looking forward to carrying on the
success that he and Salmon had achieved at the 2013 season ending Highlands Motorsport
Park event in New Zealand
“It’s interesting,
people talk about emotion up here and I’ve got no history of that,” he
admitted. “But as soon as it [the accident] happened, all this emotion came
from somewhere, it was quite overwhelming. The first thing was to ensure Brighty
was okay, that was my first concern. It’s pretty scary because that could
happen to anyone, even someone as experienced as Jason. After that it was
disappointment that I wouldn’t get the chance to improve across the race and
get some more valuable miles, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. We’ll
rebuild and look to start the Australian GT season on a high.”
For the crack
Melbourne Performance Centre outfit the clock is now ticking to have the car
repaired ahead of the Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli season
opener at Sandown Park in Melbourne
2014 Liqui-Moly Bathurst
Race [12-Hours] (
01. 88.
Edwards/Bowe/Lowndes/Salo (Ferrari 458 Italia - A) - 296-laps
02. 84.
Primat/Jaeger/Buhk (Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 - A) - 296-laps
03. 63. Davison/Le
Brocq/Crick (Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 - A) - 296-laps
04. 37.
Quinn/Quinn/Kirkaldy/Van Gisbergen (McLaren MP4-12C/Pirelli - A) - 296-laps
05. 3.
Frey/Rast/Vanthoor (Audi R8 LMS ultra - A) - 296-laps
06. 25.
Patterson/Lux/Winkelhock (Audi R8 LMS ultra - A) - 294-laps
07. 1.
Schneider/Engel/Bastian (Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 - A) - 291-laps
08. 4.
Grove/Bamber/Barker (Porsche 997 GT3 Cup - B) - 286-laps
09. 12. Calvert-Jones/Davison/Long
(Porsche 997 GT3 Cup - B) - 284-laps
10. 9. Cini/Eddy/Mies (MPC Audi R8 LMS
ultra/Pirelli - A) - 278-laps
DNS. 5. Salmon/Luff/Bright/Talbot (MPC/Audi R8 LMS ultra/Pirelli)
DNS. 5. Salmon/Luff/Bright/Talbot (MPC/Audi R8 LMS ultra/Pirelli)
Qualifying (
01. 1. Schneider/Engel/Bastian
(Erebus Motorsport SLS AMG GT3) - 2:03.8586
02. 88.
Edwards/Bowe/Lowndes/Salo (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) - 2:03.9421
03. 37.
Quinn/Quinn/Kirkaldy/Van Gisbergen (McLaren MP4-12C/Pirelli) - 2:04.0006
04. 63. Davison/Le
Brocq/Crick (Erebus Motorsport SLS AMG GT3) - 2:04.2563
05. 32.
Kelly/Chiyo/Buncombe/Reip (Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3) - 2:04.8228
06. 23.
Lago/Russell/Kox (Lamborghini Gallardo FLII GT3) - 2:05.0320
07. 9. Cini/Eddy/Mies (MPC Audi R8 LMS
ultra/Pirelli) - 2:05.5919
08. 3.
Frey/Rast/Vanthoor (Audi R8 LMS ultra) - 2:05.5946
09. 25.
Patterson/Lux/Winkelhock (Audi R8 LMS ultra) - 2:05.7175
10. 48.
McMillan/Richards/Wood/Lilley (Gallardo FLII GT3/Pirelli) - 2:06.3498
31. 5. Salmon/Luff/Bright/Talbot (MPC/Audi R8 LMS ultra/Pirelli)
- 2:20.0235
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