Traditionally, the final race of the Australian GT Championship year is held across the ditch in New Zealand at the spectacular Highlands Motorsport Park. This year both the Australian GT Championship (sprint races) and the Australian Endurance Championship (AEC) had their final rounds at this great circuit.

Competing in both events meant it was going to be a very busy weekend for me. On Saturday, driving the Beechwood Homes / Novati Constructions Tekno McLaren 650s GT3 with co-driver Elliot Barbour in the Australian GT Championship, and on Sunday jumping back into the Audi R8 LMS with co-driver Greg Taylor in the Australian Endurance Championship.

Australian GT Championship

It was great to get back into the McLaren after a couple of months, and it didn’t take long to get the car set up perfectly and on the pace in practice.

Qualifying 1 & 2

Elliot got in the car for qualifying session 1 and did a brilliant job securing fifth in the session considering it was his first time at the circuit and with very little seat time. I was in for qualifying session 2 which I found very frustrating with numerous laps having to be aborted due to traffic. I clocked up my best time on lap 15 which was well past the best of the tyre. I ended up sixth and because the session was faster than the previous one, that’s the position we started in the race.

Race 1

I was in the car for race one of the Australian GT Championship. Even before the lights went green we picked up a puncture in the rear left tyre due to a screw on the track and as the lights went green I had to pit to change the tyre. Because of this, I started the race from pit lane with a 30 second penalty. But as we’ve seen this year even a one hour race can be long, so I got my head down and pushed hard setting the fastest lap of the race and a new lap record, before handing over to Elliot. Elliot jumped in and did the drive of his life carving through the field with some great passing moves to bring the car over the finish line in sixth position! At the start of the race no one thought this could have been possible, originally starting sixth then moving back to last and then back up to sixth!

Race 2

The starting roles were reversed for race 2 and Elliot was in the car first. With another great drive, Elliot got the car into the top three before handing the car over to me for the final stint of the race. After all the mandatory pitstops I found myself in 2nd spot behind the McLaren 650s GT3 of Klark Quinn who was driving superbly, making it very difficult for me to pass.

After a while, a safety car was deployed due to a car stopped on circuit. On the restart, coming through the final bend onto the main straight, Klark had a bit of a slide and I was able to carry my momentum past him into turn one to take the lead. I had a lot of pressure from the hard charging Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3 of Craig Baird right on my tail, but I just kept my eyes forward to cross the finish line and take the win for the final race of the 2016 Australian GT Championship!

The perfect way to finish what was a very tough and mentally challenging 2016 campaign. A huge thank you to Beechwood Homes, Novati Constructions, Tekno Autosports and McLaren GT.

Australian Endurance Championship

Sunday was a brand new day, a different car and a different championship. It was the final round of the Australian Endurance Championship. I was lucky enough to have some laps in the Audi after driving the McLaren just to get my head back into the differences between the cars before qualifying on Sunday morning.

Qualifying 1 & 2

Greg was in the car for qualifying session 1 and immediately got to the top of the timesheets, but once again an unfortunate tyre puncture saw Greg return to the pits, unable to finish the session. Under the circumstances he did an amazing job to be in the top five. I was in the car for qualifying session 2 (the pro session). I knew it was going to be tough and the pace was going to be very fast and I wasn’t wrong. I managed my fastest lap for the weekend but ended sixth for the session only a couple tenths out of the top three. Because qualifying in the AEC is determined by the average of session 1 and session 2, our final starting position was fifth.

Race

The traditional Le Mans style running start at Highlands 101 meant I was able to tag our car to get Greg out onto the track in first position! Greg drove the best I had ever seen him drive, holding the lead of the race for the majority of his stint and not putting a wheel wrong. Pitstop time and Greg was to hand the car over to me for the final half of the race but some dramas in the pits with refuelling caused us to lose about 45 seconds which really hurt us. I got out in about 10th position and put my head down, concentrating on precision to try and make up as many places as possible.

After a couple of safety car periods and some good battles I made my way into fifth position. Unfortunately, a very late lunge by another car attempting to overtake me resulted in some heavy contact. My steering broken and pushed far off the track into the grass, I had to retreat back to the pits for some quick repairs. The Melbourne Performance Centre team did a tremendous job to get me back out on the track quickly so I could still be marked down as finishing the race. A tough end to the weekend when a podium finish looked almost certain in the early stages of the race.

I’d like to say a huge and heartfelt thank you to Greg Taylor for having me as his co-driver and coach for the majority of the AEC 2016, a big thank you to Melbourne Performance Centre and to Audi.

An up-and-down weekend but still a great weekend to finish off the 2016 GT season in Australia.

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A podium finish is exactly what we came here to do! After a very successful test day a couple of weeks ago, Greg Taylor and I came into the Australian Endurance Championship (AEC) weekend at the Sydney Motorsport Park, confident with our car and feeling great.

PRACTICE

Greg was in the car for the entire one and only practice session. He got some good miles making sure the car was where we wanted it to be and prepared some of our race tyres for Saturdays 101 lap endurance race.

QUALIFYING 1

I was in the car for qualifying session 1. The air was cool and the sun was shining and I knew it could potentially be a very fast session. It felt like there were 50 cars on the track with the amount of traffic trying to find a little bit of clear air to bank a fast lap. I managed a 1:27.2 with a very messy second half of the lap, trying not to lose time while passing a car that just didn’t see me while cooling his tyres. The session was momentarily red flagged with only a few minutes to go, so there was a chaotic race to the chequered flag with everyone having another crack at bettering their lap time. One of the older Lamborghinis ahead of me made a mess of the final corners and tried to get back online, causing me to evasively get on the brakes to avoid contact. Lap over. I ended up 3rd and just 0.2 off pole position.

QUALIFYING 2

It was Greg’s turn for qualifying session two. While he was getting ready in the car, rain drops started to appear on the windscreen which put the whole paddock into a bit of a panic, but with minutes to go before the session went green, the clouds cleared and the sun appeared for another dry run. The session was green from start to finish and Greg was able to find some clear air to punch out some solid laps. He set a time of 1:26.6, a little off what he was aiming for, but with both our times combined it put us in 7th spot on the inside of the track for the start on Saturday.

RACE

Race start was hectic with everyone battling for track position before settling into a rhythm. I was stuck behind the McLaren 650s of Warren Luff who was clearly slower, but made it very hard to pass. Slowing himself down in the process, one of the Lamborghini’s and a Mercedes Benz caught up behind me. I managed to pass the McLaren but not without losing position to the Lamborghini and the Mercedes. I didn’t worry about getting back past them as it was all about maintaining good consistent lap speed going into the first round of pit stops. At just after the 20 lap point I came into the pits for our first compulsory stop and driver change. Greg jumped in the car for his long middle stint of the race.

Greg quickly got into an excellent rhythm and was sitting 3rd and 4th after the first round of pitstops were completed. Managing traffic very well and pulling off some very impressive passing manouvres on live on TV, it got the crowd in the grandstands and the whole team in the garage cheering! Greg was able to maintain the gap and match the speed of the leading Aston Martin and Porsche to hand the car back to me for the final stage of the race. Our final pitstop was seamless with the Melbourne Performance Centre (MPC) crew doing their standard excellent job, I was now in the car to the end.

I came out of the pits in sixth position and I was able to make my way back up to 3rd with a few passes and jumping some cars in the pit stop sequence. The final stage of the race was fairly uneventful, with most of my passing being done lapping other cars and keeping out of trouble. I was on the radio back to my engineer managing the gap behind me to 4th and slowly creeping up on the Aston Martin and the Porsche in front. The time gap to the leaders was too big to reel in with the laps that I had left so my main focus was to keep the tyres fresh in case there was a safety car which would have bunched the field up, I would have been ready for a dash to the finish line.

Chequered flag and we crossed the line in 3rd! A great feeling to be back on the podium and to share it once again with my good friend and teammate Greg Taylor, keeping our podium streak going from our win at the Bathurst 12 hour.

A huge thank you to Beechwood Homes for getting me to this Sydney endurance race, to my family and friends for their continued support, pushing me to my goals and to my supporters from Novati Constructions who came out to cheer me on. Thanks also to Troy, Lee and everyone on the MPC Team.

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I am very excited to also be competing in the 2016 Australian Endurance Championship (AEC) this weekend with Greg Taylor at Sydney Motorsport Park. I’ll be jumping back into the beautifully turned out Audi R8 LMS in which we both shared success winning the AA Class at the Bathurst 12 hour earlier this year.

A big thank you to my amazing and loyal sponsors Beechwood Homes for their continued support getting me to this awesome endurance race right in our backyard.

Round two of the AEC is on 26 and 27 August will be broadcast on Fox Sports channel 506. The practice and qualifying will be on Friday and the 101 lap race on Saturday morning.

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I’m in sunny Townsville contesting Round 5 of the 2016 Australian GT Championships this weekend, Friday 8 to Sunday 19 July. I will be racing in the Beechwood Homes/SLR/BuildMat McLaren 650s GT3 with my co-driver Elliot Barbour. It’s been an exciting competition so far and we’re both looking forward to some great precision racing on the streets of Townsville.

Join us this weekend and catch all the action live on FoxSports channel 506.

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Coming into round 4 of the Australian GT championship my co-driver Elliot and I were both excited and very eager to get back into the Beechwood Homes/SLR/BuildMat McLaren 650s GT3 after our strong performance in the last race at Perth a few weeks ago.

Practice

Practice one on Friday morning was very promising. I started the session and was immediately confident with the set up, but already thinking of how we could improve. Elliott got in to finish off the 30 minute session after I had made some minor changes and was able to bank some solid lap times and gain some knowledge on how to further improve the car for qualifying.

Qualifying 1

Elliot started the first Qualifying session. It was a very difficult scenario. The circuit started wet and a few cars including the Tekno McLaren trio started on wet tyres to get a gauge on the circuit and build some heat through the brakes. A quick pitstop and tyre change onto slicks with 12 minutes to go meant that Elliot had to really get some tyre temperature on a half wet track and be as precise as possible. If he put a wheel off the dry line onto the wet surface of the track, it could be all over in an instant. He did a remarkable job to finish the session in 1st with a time of 1:28.3, more than half a second in front of the next best.

Qualifying 2

It was my turn for Qualifying two. During our 10 minute change over between sessions we learnt that there was going to be a slight issue which meant I could only do a maximum of three laps. The pressure was on. There would be no time to get heat into the tyres because the weather outside was just too cold, so in my first two laps I had to get as much temperature into the tyres and breaks for one flying lap. It was very committed and I had to trust my theoretical knowledge of what the car could do because my brain wasn’t wanting to go so fast on cold tyres. I managed a time of 1:27.1 which put me 4th for the session and starting 4th in race one. I was happy with the speed considering the circumstances, but looking back in frustration, knowing that it could have been even better if we hadn’t encountered an issue leading into the qualifying session.

Race 1

Race one started off perfectly. I was in the car for the start and got a great jump to get to 2nd into turn one and was able to comfortably hold this position behind the Audi of Garth Tander. I didn’t need to push to try and gain the lead because his pitstop was a lot longer than mine. About 10 laps in, Garth had some dramas and I took the lead just before my pitstop window opened. Just before pit window opened, the safety car was deployed. A miscommunication and miscalculation resulted in me being pitted one lap too late, and Elliot and I got pushed back from 1st position to 21st and one lap behind the leaders. This bungle meant the race was pretty much over for us. Elliot Brought the car home strong and the best he could do was help gain knowledge to improve the car for race 2.

Race 2

Elliot was in the car for the start of race 2. Straight away he showed the strength that we were able to build in the McLaren, and made his way up to 14th position before being run off the track by one of the BMW M6 GT3 entries, forcing him to take to the grass to avoid a collision. Pushed back to 20th, Elliot again worked his way up the field to 12th before handing over to me to finish the race. The car felt great and I got my head down focused on a strong finish. It seemed like there was a theme to this race and I too found myself being pushed onto the grass to avoid an accident, this time funnily enough by my car from last years’ championship. I had to keep clear of drivers struggling not to crash themselves and had a great battle with Bonanomi in the Audi R8 LMS slicing our way through the field. I got up to 6th position, and with just 3 minutes to go, I suffered a tyre puncture. Luckily I was able to make it back to the pits without damage to the car, but the race was well and truly over. We finished in 25th.

The whole Tekno Autosports McLaren team were gutted knowing how strong our car speed was over the weekend. We are all hoping for better luck for the end of the year, but I believe in creating your own luck and the best I can do is to do my job the best I can to take my team and my sponsors to the podium as often as I can.

Thank you to Beechwood Homes for being there with Elliot and I. Your support is invaluable. And thank you to Novati Constructions for bringing us the awesome on board footage. I know I’ll be watching the start of race one again to re-live the excitement!

Next round is on the streets of Townsville in Queensland where I have had success in Australian GT the past two years. Join us as we continue the success this year!

I’m at the Phillip Island Circuit, preparing with my co-driver Elliott Barbour to challenge Round 4 of the 2016 Australian GT Championships this weekend 27-28 May at the Shannons Nationals, in the Beechwood Homes/SLR/BuildMat McLaren 650s GT3.

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After battling unpredictable weather conditions at round three of the Australian GT championship, my team mate Elliot Barbour and I brought the Beechwood Homes/SLR/BuildMat McLaren 650s GT3 to a podium finish in race two and a top five position for the weekend.

It was obvious from the first practice session on Friday morning that the weekend was going to be tough yet very exciting with the weather looking inconsistent. We hit the track on cold, slick tyres with Elliot and I both cutting laps in the 20 minute session. We had some work to do in preparing our brakes and getting the set up right for the conditions. The very low grip on the track made it difficult, but the setup from the Tekno McLaren team felt good and gave us the confidence to move into qualifying.

Qualifying 1

Elliot took the car for qualifying 1 on a very wet track. New wet tyres bolted on the car, the session went green and within a few laps Elliott was sitting comfortably in the top 3. The times started to plateau as the abrasive surface at Barbagallo Raceway ate into the wet tyres and in the dying stages of the session, a few teams pulled in the pits to change to slick tyres. We had decided to stay on wets because we couldn’t see the track drying enough for there to be an advantage, but unfortunately we were wrong and dropped to 8th in the last seconds as some cars managed to get just enough heat into the slicks to improve their lap times. The car was feeling great and we knew we had a good set up package if the weekend was to continue to be wet.

Qualifying 2

It was my turn in qualifying session 2 and this time there was no chance of the track drying with heavy rain throughout the first half of the session. I was able to get into position 2 before pitting to make a few set up changes. With time running out I wasn’t able to improve and dropped to 4th but was very happy with the result. Unfortunately 4th position in qualifying 2 didn’t change our start position for race 1, because the session was not faster than the previous due to the heavy rain, so we remained in 8th.

Race 1

Again the weather played a big part in the excitement of the race. All cars started on wets. The start was strong and I got into 6th position, but the rain stopped and the track started drying quickly. I could feel the wet tyres beneath me disintegrating and could see the same thing happening to the cars around me.

The safety car was deployed due to a car stuck in the sand trap and we saw this chance to pit early outside our compulsory pit window, change to slick tyres and gain the advantage on the rest of the field. This was only going to work if we could complete the pitstop before the field came around behind the safety car. We were seconds away from pulling off a genius manoeuvre in strategy but were just not quick enough to do the tyre change and we fell a lap behind.

Elliot jumped in the car at the compulsory pitstop for the second half of the race and was quick, but being a lap down we finished 13th and wondering what could have been.

Race 2

Elliot started the race this time and after just two laps got the car into 9th position. Unfortunately, the race was stopped due to an accident on the exit of the last corner when the Audi of Geoff Emery hit the wall after contact from one of the Lamborghini’s and Geoff required medical attention. Because of the long stoppage only the last 25 minutes of the race could be run, so all the co drivers had to jump in and finish the race without the compulsory pitstop. This meant that the pitstop time penalties were added at the end of the race.

When the race restarted, I quickly made my way up into 5th position and kept within the leading pack to cross the line in 5th. But with the post-race penalty calculations for the field placed us in 2nd place for the race, salvaging our weekend and putting us in 5th overall.

A great overall result that moves up to 6th spot on the Australian GT Championship leader board. We are looking forward to the next round of the championship at Phillip Island Circuit on 27 and 28 May. A big thank you to Novati Constructions for some excellent on-board footage delivered by Fox Sports and V8 Supercars.

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After an up and down weekend in Round 2 of the Australian GT Championship at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, my team mate Elliot Barbour and I have our sights set on success at the Barbagallo Raceway in Perth this weekend.

I’ve never raced at the Barbagallo circuit before but I have done some events in road cars, so I know the layout of the circuit and can’t wait to get back in the Beechwood Homes/BuildMat McLaren 650s GT3. Elliot has had some success there in the V8 Ute championship so I’ll be looking to him for his race knowledge around Barbagallo.

The Tekno Autosports team have gone through all of the cars in preparation to make sure we have the best opportunity for a strong round in Perth and the second half of the GT racing season.

We are back to the standard GT event schedule, with two 1 hour races over the weekend each with a compulsory pitstop and a driver change.

Catch all the action from Perth on FoxSports channel 506 as well as the on board footage thanks to Novati Constructions.

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Dispite some great racing and good commentary, this was not the best start to the season. But one thing is for sure. Tekno Autosports have given Elliot Barbour and I an amazing Beechwood Homes/BuildMat sponsored McLaren 650S GT3 race car to go for the 2016 Australian GT championships.

Practice & Qualifying

After a short 20 minute practice session in the morning, Elliot and I had a little bit of time to get used to this unforgiving street circuit in the new McLaren. Elliot jumped in for qualifying session one just after lunch on Thursday. The track was quite dirty but Elliot did an amazing job putting the car in position three by the end of the session with a 1:22.3 lap time. The car was feeling great and only slight changes were made for qualifying session two when I jumped into the car. I was felt right at home and as the track began to clean up a little bit, I managed a 1:20.6 which put us in position three for the session and position three for the start of race one.

Race 1

Video Highlights – Adelaide Round 1, Race 1

The first race of the 2016 championship season was at lunchtime on Friday. I jumped in the car for the first half of the race. Everything was feeling great and I fought my way to the lead, in the process breaking the current race lap record with a 1:20.4 before handing the car over to Elliot in the pitstop. Our pitstop time penalty meant that Elliot got stuck in a large pack of cars that seemed to be driving all over the place. Elliott was smart and was able to keep the car damage free and bring us home in sixth position.

Race 2

Video Highlights – Adelaide Round 1, Race 2

Alternating drivers from race to race is part of the Australian GT rules so for race 2 on Saturday morning Elliot was in for the start. The first few laps were excellent and Elliot made his way up to 4th position. Unfortunately, while making a move for third Elliot had contact from another car, which spun him around and forced him to re-join the back of the field. Pitstop time and I jumped in but it turned out that the rear left wheel was badly damaged from the contact. Thanks to the great work from our mechanics who noticed the problem and changed the wheel. This pushed our pitstop time longer than it should have been and put us a lap down.

I finished the race in 22nd position, a little disappointed with our bad luck, but was positive since we would have a lower pitstop time penalty for the next race because of our low grid position.

Race 3

Video Highlights – Adelaide Round 1, Race 3

Sunday morning and I was back in the #61 McLaren for the start. The track was cold, dirty and unforgiving. This was my chance to make some positions. I knew I had to be really clean and precise, so as soon as the lights went green, I made sure every single passing manoeuvre I did was both committed and visible to the other cars. I managed to pass four cars into turns 1 and 2 and another four cars down the outside of turn 4 because everyone blocked to the inside and backed up. I then passed another car into turn 5 and another into turn 7. By the time I exited turn 8, I was in 12th position and due to an accident at turn 9, I gained another three spots and crossed the finish line after lap one in 9th position. The car was feeling amazing and I was feeling great.

The safety car was deployed for the accident on turn 9. Between the time the race restarted and my pitstop to hand the car to Elliott, I went from 9th to 2nd position. We were in an excellent position to seriously challenge for a podium finish. Sadly, just one lap into Elliott’s drive a problem with the car caused it to shut down and forced Elliot into the pits. By the time the car was good to go, we had lost 5 laps.

Definitely not our weekend but Elliot and I are feeling positive for the next round at the Melbourne Grand Prix. We know we have a great team and a beautifully turned out car so round two of the Australian GT championship will hopefully be more kind to us.

A huge thanks to Beechwood Homes, Novati Construction, Build Mat and Compello for the amazing support and of course our team Tekno Autosports.

See you in the streets of Melbourne at the Formula One Grand Prix for round two of the Australian GT championship March 17-20.

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I have teamed up with Elliot Barbour and will be contesting the 6 Round 2016 Australian GT Championship in the Beechwood Homes, Tekno Autosports prepared McLaren 650s GT3 at the Clipsal 500 this weekend (3 to 6 March 2016) in Adelaide. We aim to announce our Australian Endurance Championship campaign in the coming weeks.

The first day of testing the new race car last week was excellent. Elliot and I completed some good laps up at Queensland Raceway. The McLaren felt great and was everything I expected and more after witnessing its success at the Bathurst 12 Hour only a couple of weeks ago. I had driven the car last year in the GT Asia Championship but they run on Michelin tyres so driving them on the Pirelli tyre was different.

Elliot learnt the car quite quickly and after a few laps was clocking very competitive times. He said “I drove the Lamborghini at Sandown last year and also tested the Mercedes SLS GT3 so I had an understanding of what these types of cars could do but the McLaren is again a different car and I’m really loving it, can’t wait for the 1st round of the championship”.

We are both looking forward to a successful 2016 Australian GT campaign.

Beechwood Homes is on board the car, as is Novati Constructions, Compello and BuildMat with others to confirm in the coming weeks.

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