News

Mar 13, 2012

3^rd March 2012 - Klark Quinn emerges victorious in an action packed first race in the 2012 Australian GT Championship – protected by Sargent Security.

From the start Quinn (VIP Petfoods Porsche GT3-R) fought for the lead with Peter Hackett (Erebus Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS GT3) and pole sitter Greg Crick (MOPAR 75^th Anniversary Dodge Viper) with all three circulating under the lap record.

Crick was the first to falter with suspension failure forcing an early retirement as pit stops started to juggle the running order and the Adelaide weather added another element with light rain beginning to fall.

Ash Samadi (Mothers Energy Drinks Lamborghini Gallardo GT3) was the next casualty when he hit the wall hard at turn 10. He reported total brake failure following his pit stop and the accident called for a safety car whilst his car was removed from the barriers.

Quinn and Hackett resumed their fight with the lead swapping numerous times until, with only seven minutes to go, the pair were caught by the hard charging Alan Simonson (Team Maranello Ferrari 458 GT3).

The battle for the lead was brought to a spectacular end a few laps later when the leaders came across the slower car of Mark Eddy (Network Clothing Audi R8 LMS GT3). Hackett attempted to dive up inside Eddy but they collided with both being forced into immediate retirement against the unforgiving Adelaide walls taking Alan Simonson momentarily off course too.

Quinn managed to drive through the melee without incident and cruised away to take the race win from an ecstatic Jordan Ormsby (Golf Cart Solutions Porsche 997 GT3 Cup) and the fast recovering Alan Simonson.

“What a fantastic race’ Quinn said afterwards. “I started fast but then struggled a little with an understeer that got progressively worse. I ended up driving the wheels off of it to just stay in touch with the others and then all hell broke loose. You could see quite plainly that something was going to happen though so I just drove smart and made sure I didn’t get caught when all went wrong”.

Ormsby took the GTT class win with his outright 2^nd placing, Jan Jinadasa (Clipsal Porsche 997 GT3 Cup) the GTC class win and the Darren Berry / Paul Stokell Ginetta G50 GT4 the GTS class win.

Klark Quinn in action