At Eastern Creek over the weekend reigning champion Allan Simonsen drove the Ferrari F430 GT3 sports car to its first race win of the year as the Australian GT Championship got underway.

Allan Simonsen in the Coopers/Kay & Burton sponsored Ferrari 430 GT3 commenced his defence of the Australian GT Championship title in the best possible way with the fastest qualifying lap and three race wins at Round 1 held at Sydney’s Eastern Creek circuit at the week end (February 1-3).

The perfect result for Simonsen at the A1 GP meeting was not without competition however, with both John Kaias in the ABCOR, Preston General Engineering Aston Martin DBRS9 and Craig Baird in the Consolidated Chemical Company Ferrari 360GT making the Danish international work for his victories.

Qualifying saw Simonsen on pole with a time of 1:31.5812 followed by Baird who did a 1:32.4264 and Kaias in third only marginally slower with a time of 1:32.5454. Peter Lucas (Urban Arrangement Lotus Elise)  was next fastest followed by John Teulan ( Shell Racing, Stahlwille Ferrari 430), Ross Lilley (Koala Furniture International Lamborghini Gallardo GT3), Ash Samadi (Roock Porsche GT3 Cup Car), Anthony Kosseris ( Oxford Tavern Wollongong Porsche GT3 Cup Car), and Nick Kelly (Industrie Ferrari 360 Challenge).

In Race 1 Simonsen took the victory from Baird followed by Kaias with Peter Lucas in fourth, John Teulan fifth, with the remainder of the top order being Ross Lilley, Ash Samadi, Anthony Kosseris, and Nick Kelly. Kevin Miller’s Property Solutions Group Ferrari 430 was a non finisher suffering from overheating and did not take any further part in the meeting. Fastest lap of the race was set by Simonsen with a time of 1:33.7932, shattering the old lap record and with the top six cars all breaking it by 2 seconds or more.

Race 2 developed into a torrid affair with Baird getting the jump at the start and dicing with a hard pressing Simonsen for some six laps before the reigning champion eased the Ferrari 430 into the lead. Ten laps into the race the Aston Martin, driven brilliantly by John Kaias, got alongside Baird’s Ferrari 360GT coming onto the long downhill straight and then Kaias executed a stunning outside passing move at the ultra fast Turn 1. The top three finishing order was Simonsen, Kaias, and Baird, followed by Ross Lilley, Ash Samadi, and Nick Kelly. High drama occurred during the race when the Porsche GT3 Cup Car of Anthony Kosseris made heavy contact in turn 2 with John Teulan’s Ferrari 430. Teulan’s car was hit in the rear wheel lifting the Kosseris car spectacularly in the air over Teulan’s and causing damage to the drive train of the Ferrari. The incident was deemed to have been caused by Kosseris who is reported to have been fined $1000 by the stewards with the additional penalty of a loss of 40 Championship points. Simonsen set the fastest time with a lap of 1:33.4115, some three seconds faster than the GT lap record of last year.

Race 3 was started under the safety car as a result of wet weather, but in the end it was Simonsen who won from Baird, with Kaias in third followed by Ross Lilley who had a highly successful debut meeting in his newly acquired Lamborghini Gallardo.

Following the meeting Australian GT Championship spokesperson Terry Little said: ‘We were a little disappointed in the small field at Eastern Creek but there were a number of contributing factors with our last round at Sandown being in December and the A1 Grand Prix  being early in the New Year, plus a number of our competitors sadly had serious illness in their families. These matters together with David Wall and Bryce Washington focusing on Carrera Cup, other competitors running overseas in Porsche 997’s and some general instability from well meaning but ill conceived new series proposals contributed to the smaller than expected numbers.

Little added:  ‘We are however, extremely encouraged by our grid numbers for both the Clipsal 500 Adelaide and the Australian Grand Prix meetings. We will have five competitors new to the Championship and the Wall Porsche RSR and Washington Lamborghini are currently under negotiation with buyers. From our perspective we are on target to meet the goal we set in 2005 of having a full field of FIA GT3 spec cars by 2009 and also resurrecting a ‘stand alone’ Challenge Series for older Porsche models. The weekend at Eastern Creek also demonstrated that we are reaching the Performance/Driver seeding goal of good non-professional drivers racing in a competitive manner with professional, and in some cases highly credentialed international competitors.'

Round 2 of the 2008 Australian GT Championship with a full grid will be held at the Clipsal 500 Adelaide (February 21-24).

2008 Australian GT Championship Championship Positions (after 1 round): 1st Allan Simonsen Ferrari 430 GT3 (117 points); 2nd Craig Baird Ferrari 360 GT (92); 3rd John Kaias Aston Martin DBRS9 (88); 4th Ross Lilley Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 (71); 5th Peter Lucas Lotus Elise (69).