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It was the opening of Racecentre 2015 GT3 Series and what a track to debut on. Held only one day after the real life race this gave some competitors the chance to drive home from watching the race. After a 17hour drive Ryan Healy and Chris Herringe made it to the start with 10 minutes to spare. Everyone had already come to grips with the new season vehicles the boys would have to adjust ….FAST.

Qualify:

A private 5 minute session gave most guys only one lap to set their time, and a sneaky few managed two laps. Jason Brooks assumed to be the man to beat with a 2:04.953. Pat O’Reilly surprised the field and even more so himself with an impressive 2:05.869 for second place. Jason rubbed salt into the wound and improved to a 2:04.502.

Race:

With 42 flaps in sight, a large 15 car field were bolting for turn one glory, ending in inevitable disaster. A red flag led to a race restart and a word of warning from race control. The next attempt saw two Ferrari’s run wide of Hell Corner and Pat shuffled back a few spots. Chris Naumovski suffered a horror start, losing his splitter in the barriers and required an early pit stop. Jason drove away.

After the second lap, Shane cleared away from Pat on Mountain Straight. After a great start, Nathan Tregarthen spun at Forest Elbow and then clipped by a passing Ferrari. Ryan Healey, Bronte Hitchcock and Chris Herringe all pit early for damage. Jeremy struggled to find the early rhythm. Scott and Enda trailed a slippery Kyle, and both slip through at the Dipper.

Jason consistently smashed out 2:05’s, whereas Tim and Allan in 2^nd and 3^rd respectively stuck together with 2:07’s. At the end of 14 laps, Shane found himself trailing Allan’s Nissan. Shane dove for pit lane to avoid the upcoming battle. It was clear that his pit strategy was going to be a 2 stopper. Allan continued on down the road and tried to stretch it out for a 1 stopper, He narrowly avoided a nasty incident of Enda’s through the Esses. Most other drivers pitted around the 14 lap mark, aiming for a two-stopper. The Nissan drivers encountered remarkable tyre wear, and the opportunity to stretch to one stop. Allan’s Nissan just failed to reach the magic 21st  lap requiring an earlier pit and re-joined in 6^th. Jason’s driving was on fine form, reached 21 laps and then re-joined with a very healthy lead.  Chris Herringe was toward the back after an early race incident but appeared to be also conserving his Nissan’s tyres and looked to jump back up the order. Unfortunately the rookie’s failed to serve their penalties and were DQ’d while an accident forced Enda to retire. Fatigue started to set in for Ryan Healy as his 17hr trip that day took it out of him. At the last run of pit stops the field was starting to sort itself out for the home stretch. Shane had caught Iain McIntosh as he let him by into the dipper but Shane had lost concentration and hit the wall on Conrod straight. His tyres where clearly shot as he pitted the next lap. This let Allan on a one stopper and Pat O’Reilly on a 2 stopper advance into P3 & P4. Allan Marks struggling on his old tyres was trying to avoid the 2^nd stop in his Nissan but was giving away about 2 seconds a lap to the charging field. His 30 second advantage was being chewed up and with 11 laps to go there was plenty of time to see a 3 horse race for the final step of the podium. Scott Durham was doing a good job to keep with them as well but was shown the Blue flag on numerous occasions. Not wanting to be penalised all he could do was watch from the back of the pack. With 3 laps to go both Pat and Shane was on Allans tail just waiting to get past. The Nissan fish tailing on spent tyres was making itself even wider as there is no extra room across the top. Pat made the move and got away as Shane had to be patient and plan his move. He got a good run out of Reid Park and got the job done going into Skyline. A classy drive from Jason Brooks taking the chequered with an unsaleable lead ahead of seasoned front runner Tim Hamilton. Pat O’Reilly Taking out the top 3 in his class B Porsche. Next round see’s the return of 2014 Champion Ross Rizzo and Runner up Francarlo Rizzo. Bring on Suzuka !!!

By Matt Anderson

Race Results:

Championship Points: