The Final race of the season and everyone was pumped. A few couldn't attend due to festive commitments but there was a strong field none the less. A great way to cap off a great League.
Qualify:
Quite a long lap time, the first time posted belong to Duran Nikora with a 2:06. The Rizzo's quickly beat this time and soon pushed each other in terms of hundredths into the 2.04s. As a new guy to GT3 League, Duran took the fight to regular pace setter Allan Marks. Tim, leapfrogged the two of them and claimed the 3rd starting position.
Race:
The start featured Allan slipping through the middle of the front row. Francarlo’s inside advantage gave him the ideal run through the opener. Shane got a good start from P6 as he got up to P3 before the late braking zones of other. Ross, just as cunning, pulled out for the crossover move and slotted into 2nd. A technical issue forced a sim drop-out and a race restart was scheduled. Action remained intense though, 4-wide into the opening corner!
Lap two, Ross and Tim made contact out front sending cars everywhere in evasion. Jeremy after getting hit first lap, picked his gaps to perfection to find 3rd place almost immediately. Francarlo out to 10 second lead. The Tim vs Allan battle fought over many generations heated up once again. This time, fair and clean; Tim bided his time and seized an Allan mistake.
Ryan Healy was struggling with the slippery Audi R8 as he failed to get heat and traction in the tyres. He eventually spun on the final turn to the main straight. The oncoming field did their best to avoid him but not so for Shane Gilfeather as he was relegated to the back of the pack with minimal damage. The field starting to spread out getting ready for the first run of pit stops.
F1 specialists, Adam Gill and Duran brought their car down pit road after 9 laps. The leaders stretched to the 14 lap count. Jeremy was certainly quick, but he struggled for tyre life as he took the 3 stop option. This would later cost him a couple of places at the finish line. Up the front it was Ross, Francarlo and Tim battling it out for the lead until Ross got into his rhythm and stretched a slight lead. Ross eventually took the win with a 21 sec gap over Francarlo, who also claimed 2nd overall in the championship. Tim Hamilton coming home in 3rd.
By Matt Anderson / Shane Gilfeather
Race Results:
Finish | Start | Diff +/- | Driver | Car | Car class | Laps | Race time | Fastest lap | Qual. time |
1 | 1 | - | Ross Rizzo | Audi R8 LMS ULTRA | PRO | 38 | 81:32.222 | 2:04.606 | 2:04.145 |
2 | 2 | - | Francarlo Rizzo | Ferrari 458 Italia | PAM | 38 | +0:21.611 | 2:04.999 | 2:04.593 |
3 | 3 | - | Tim Hamilton | Ferrari F430 | GTR | 38 | +1:35.302 | 2:05.769 | 2:05.772 |
4 | 6 | +2 | Shane Gilfeather | McLaren MP4-12C | PAM | 37 | +1 lap | 2:07.091 | 2:07.336 |
5 | 8 | +3 | Iain McIntosh | Ferrari F430 | GTR | 37 | +1 lap | 2:07.862 | 2:07.519 |
6 | 4 | -2 | Allan Marks | McLaren MP4-12C | PAM | 37 | +1 lap | 2:07.098 | 2:06.568 |
7 | 5 | -2 | Duran Nikora | Audi R8 LMS ULTRA | PRO | 37 | +1 lap | 2:06.456 | 2:06.718 |
8 | 7 | -1 | Jeremy Pernesz | Audi R8 LMS ULTRA | PRO | 37 | +1 lap | 2:06.838 | 2:07.397 |
9 | 10 | +1 | Enda Murphy | Ferrari F430 | GTR | 36 | +2 laps | 2:09.366 | 2:09.717 |
10 | 11 | +1 | Adam Gill | Audi R8 LMS ULTRA | PRO | 35 | +3 laps | 2:08.391 | 2:11.271 |
11 | 9 | -2 | Ryan Healy | Audi R8 LMS ULTRA | PRO | 35 | +3 laps | 2:08.853 | 2:09.041 |
Final Championship Standings:
2014 GT3 League | |||||||||||||||||||
Drivers | State | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 | Race 4 | Race 5 | Race 6 | Race 7 | Race 8 | Race 9 | Race 10 | Race 11 | Race 12 | Drop Points | Total Points | Current Place | |||
Ross Rizzo | QLD | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 15 | 17 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 52 | 180 | 1st | |||
Francarlo Rizzo | QLD | 15 | 17 | 15 | 17 | 15 | 15 | 7 | 20 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 37 | 152 | 2nd | |||
Jason Brooks | NSW | 17 | 13 | 17 | 10 | 17 | 17 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 10 | 146 | 3rd | |||
Tim Hamilton | QLD | 7 | 15 | 13 | 15 | 13 | 13 | 17 | 12 | 12 | 15 | 13 | 15 | 31 | 129 | 4th | |||
Allan Marks | NSW | 8 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 10 | 12 | 11 | 24 | 104 | 5th | |||
Shane Van Gilfeather | NSW | 0 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 11 | 13 | 17 | 102 | 6th | |||
Nathan Tregarthan | NSW | 3 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 12 | 96 | 7th | |||
Pat O'Reilly | NSW | 9 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 9 | 12 | 9 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 67 | 8th | |||
Iain McIntosh | QLD | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 43 | 9th | |||
Chris Herringe | QLD | 12 | 6 | 0 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 10th | |||
Nikolai Valge | NSW | 10 | 11 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 11th | |||
Enda Murphy | QLD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 30 | 12th | |||
Chris Paras | NSW | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 13th | |||
Ryan Healy | QLD | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 17 | 14th | |||
David Lord | NSW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 15th | |||
Iain Salteri | QLD | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 16th | |||
Matt Anderson | NSW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 17th | |||
Stuart Vaughan | NSW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 18th | |||
Scott McDonald | NSW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 19th | |||
Isaac Vaccarella | NSW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 20th | |||
Duran Nikora | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 21st | ||||
Jeremy Pernesz | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 22nd | ||||
Tim Calvert | NSW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 23rd | |||
Andy Lardner | QLD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 24th | |||
Ben Martin | NSW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 25th | |||
Andrew Donnelly | NSW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 26th | |||
Adam Gill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 27th | ||||
Rob Cooper | QLD | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 28th | |||
Nicholas Fittock | NSW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 29th | |||
Sam Owen | NSW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 30th | |||
Kris Miller | NSW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 31st | |||
Justin Wilson | NSW | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 32nd | |||
Luke Bannano | NSW | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 33rd | |||
Andrew Clarke | NSW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 34th | |||
Evan Golbach | NSW | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 35th | |||
Todd Varacalli | QLD | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 36th |
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