Australian GT Racing Is Set For Radical Change In 2016

In a move that indicates that the strength of GT racing in Australia is slowly on the rise, the owner of the Australian GT Championship, pet food tycoon Tony Quinn, has recently announced that the series will split have both a sprint race element – normally 40 minutes per race, run in conjunction with V8 Supercar events – and also stage a series of endurance events. There are even ambitious but exciting plans afoot to have the GT machines run in the country’s marquee sports car event, the Bathurst 12 Hour.

Growth of the GT3 class in Australia has convinced Quinn that the time is right for expansion, a good indicator of which is that there are 42 entries for the opening round of the Australian GT Series, to be run at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide. That there are only 32 spots on the grid should make for some Indianapolis 500-style bumping on qualifying day.

In similarly good news, Quinn reports that there are 32 full-season entries. That’s more than at most V8 Supercar rounds, and there is certainly much more diversity on the Australian GT grid than there will be when the V8s line up for Clipsal. It’s the sudden influx of entries that’s convinced Quinn to extend the profile of the championship, so there’s solid proof that it’ll be well supported.

The move to introduce an element of endurance racing, which mirrors what the Blancpain GT Series has done in Europe, can only be good news for Australian motorsport fans, and especially those who are keen to sample something other than the V8 touring car scene. In detailing his plans to SpeedCafe.com, Quinn suggested that it would be possible for teams to run either format – sprint or endurance – or both, as they choose, depending on their funding situation.

Imagine a GT endurance series in Australia that features the Bathurst 12 Hour, and, let’s say, six-hour events at Phillip Island, Sandown and Sydney Motorsports Park, with visits, perhaps, to overseas venues. The Australian GT Series already races at Highlands Motorsport Park, and could visit another New Zealand racetrack.

Add into that mix some sprint races on temporary street circuits in companion with V8 Supercar races – Sydney Olympic Park, Townsville, Adelaide – and maybe a second visit to Mt Panorama as a support series for the Bathurst 1000. That’s a pretty good schedule, with, as Quinn said to SpeedCafe.com, room for some further international exposure.

That schedule, theoretical though it may be, somewhat resembles what the Tudor United Sports Car Series does in North America, holding a number of standalone endurance events – Rolex 24 at Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans – whilst partnering with IndyCar and even NASCAR for events at other racetracks on other weekends, including the famed Long Beach Grand Prix. It’s a scheduling model that’s worked very well for the Tudor Series, bringing maximum exposure to a series that boasts some pretty spectacular racing.

Grand Touring and sports car racing is definitely the way of the future around the world. We’re seeing manufacturers pulling out of touring car series and Formula One, and moving more into endurance racing, where cars are put through incredible tests on a weekly basis, which, of course, is the best sort of research and development for road cars. If you can build a car that’ll survive twelve hours around Bathurst or Sebring, or longer at Daytona or Le Mans, you’re going to be able to transfer the secrets of that reliability over to the cars that people drive away from the showroom in every day of the week.

Locally, there’s more similarity to what races in a GT event as compared with the V8 Supercar model at the moment. Same goes for Formula One versus sports car racing in Europe, where Audi, Porsche and Toyota have made giant commitments to enduro racing.

Speaking of endurance racing, I’d love to see the return of a 24 Hours of Bathurst, too, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that sentiment. Given the exposure that the Bathurst 12 Hours had gotten over the years, with superstar drivers from all over the globe raving about the event itself and, of course, Mt Panorama. If the profile of the 12 Hour continues to rise, which it should, with a full-race broadcast on the Seven Network, in a few years, it might be the perfect time to double the race distance, and then we’ll see what sort of teams and drivers and manufacturers might want a piece of it.

In the meantime, we have a great series to look forward to in 2015, for which the eligibility rules have been opened up in a big way. Whereas in the past, the Australian GT Championship has allowed only year-old machinery, they are now welcoming 2014 and 2015 spec cars to the grid, which means even more diversity. That can only be a good thing for the on-track product. I mean, let’s face it, those cars are sweet! They sound as good as they look, and the racing is fantastic.

Enjoy the Australian GT Championship in 2015…with an eye to big things coming in 2016!