Race Report – GT3 Cup Challenge Australia – Adelaide, Australia

It is no secret that the Wimobilize squad has been eyeing this round since the beginning of the 2010 season. This round at Mallala, was hosted by Adelaide, the home city where I grew up in. This was the race that would have home fans.

As we arrived, the place had nothing. There was no shelter, no pit building, and no pit garages. The cars were parked in a different location, and the start/finish line wasn’t at the PIT LANE. This was a circuit like I had never seen before. The weather was changing continuously throughout the weekend, and we really did not know whether it was going to rain or shine.

Friday practice commenced, and the number 5 car was running great, finishing 7th fastest in the first practice. Second practice saw the heavens open up, the team changing the Michelin rubber to the full wets. Things went well on the Friday.

Saturday came and qualifying was over the horizon, though dark black clouds loomed around us. The weather held reasonably well in the end, though my qualifying session went terribly. Car 5 left the pits and was stuck behind a long line of cars. I opted to hang back and create some space for myself to get a good lap out. As I started, the red flags came out, and all of the competitors were back into the pit.

By the time we got out of the pit, I was unfortunately last in a long line of cars, so once again, I hung back to create room in front of me. However, again, the session was stopped again, by the red Wimobilize car of Danny Chu spearing off the road. “I’ve only got one wheel in the mud,” Danny said. He was lying of course! It was stuck so far into the dirt, that the tow truck did not have a rope long enough to pull Chus car out of the mud! The red flags were out, and the number #5 Yuey Tan car hadn’t banked a solid qualifying lap.

At the end of the qualifying session, we managed to get the car out in qualifying, but then, it started to rain. This session was a nightmare, ending our qualifying in 16th position, our worse qualifying session in the squads history.

Race 1 saw me get off the line, only to have Rankin hit a massive pocket of water, and spin his car right in front of me. Having no time to react, I T-boned Rankin’s 997 Cup Car, breaking my central and right side radiator. My race was over in the first corner.

Race 2 was really the only true positive of the weekend. After the turn 1 race 1 incident, Wimoblize squad #5 car started a low 19th and dead last on the grid. Throughout the 17 lap race, we managed to move up from 19th to 9th position, making up 10 positions during the race. This was both extremely fun to drive, and we also managed to pick up good points, for our championship tally.

Race 3 saw a 150m lock up on a front tyre, crippling the race car for the remainder of the race.

Mallala for all its build up and anticipation, fell rather flat in the end. The weekend was the worse weekend results wise, that the team had ever participated in. We at Wimobilize McElrea Racing are all looking on to Zhuhai GP for some redemption later this month!

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