The AMRC (Awesome MR Crew) had prepared our GT3 Cup Challenge cars before we departed for last weekend's Tailem Bend Carrera Cup round.
After returning from a great weekend in South Australia there was a quick unload, then reload before heading down to rural Victoria for round 5 of the GT3 Cup Challenge championship.
Michael qualified a solid 4th in Pro-Am. He got a good start in the 35-lap opening race but was held up by a stalled car ahead. He was over 7-seconds behind the 2nd placed Pro-Am Loccisano on the road, but under strict instructions from Luffy to get into a good rhythm he punched out consistently quick times to catch and pass Loccisano to take a terrific 2nd in Pro-Am.
Hoves had a good start In race 2 and after a couple of laps found himself leading a frantic battle pack, and eventually finished a very competitive 4th in Pro-Am. In race 3 Hoves got a shocker of a start and dropped 4 spots before setting off after the leaders. He ended up getting to 4th on the last lap, to give him a terrific GT3CC "best-finish" of 2nd for the round.
Jimmy qualified 3rd, his best qualifying result in GT3CC. From row 2 he got a good start in the "Jim Richards Endurance" opening race to run second behind Fallon until Murray made an assertive pass into turn 1 on lap 3. He got into a good rhythm and wisely consolidated a strong podium position. Jimmy was the only Pro driver to post a lap time within 1/10th of a second of his qualifying lap.
Jimmy had a cracking start in race 2 and did a great job to hold off a charging Vidau for the whole 12 laps to take his second 3rd for the weekend.
In race 3 Jimmy got another good start to hold off Vidau into turn 1. He finally succumbed after 5 laps then had to fend off an energised Angelo, which he did to take his second GT3CC Pro podium.
Brett qualified well with 2nd in Pro-Am. He got a ripper start in the "Jim Richards Endurance" opening race and was sitting in 5th outright and 2nd in Pro-Am until lap 2. He made a really good move on Pro-Am leader Stutterd but unfortunately, the two banged wheels which sent Stutterd into the side of Brett resulting in a DNF for both, it was deemed a racing incident.
In race 2 early on Sunday morning Brett started off grid 20 and drove a particularly assertive race to finish 9th on the road and 3rd in Pro-Am.
In race 3 Brett had an intense battle all race with championship protagonist Stutterd for the Pro-Am lead, he came a cropper on the last lap and dropped a few spots to finish 5th.
What an awesome result to get our second double-podium in two weeks with Michael 2nd in Pro-Am and Jimmy 3rd in Pro class. This followed up Gilbo's Pro-Am win and Jaxon’s 2nd in Carrera Cup Pro class at Tailem Bend last weekend.
Many thanks to the awesome MR crew and of course MR Supercoach Warren Luff for another impeccable job at Winton. Our next hit-out is for the final round of the GT3CC at Sydney Motorsport Park on the 21st of September, we hope to see you there!
