Heading into the final round of the 2014 Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli at Highlands Motorsport Park in New Zealand, former Trophy Class champion Dean Koutsoumidis and team-mate James Winslow were locked in a titanic battle with Audi stable-mate Rod Salmon for this year’s honours, yet despite winning their third round of the season, the duo fell an agonising 15-points shy of the title.
In the end the Equity-One Motorsport duo faced a weekend of high emotions.. from a soul destroying accident in qualifying that many felt was enough to retire the car permanently for the weekend, to their stunning come from behind in race one to a second placed finish. Sadly, despite a meteoric effort from the Melbourne Performance Centre crew and a less than ideal weekend for Salmon, the Koutsoumidis-Winslow combination fell just short of an epic lazarus-esque recovery..
“We’ve had every possible emotion this weekend,” Koutsoumidis admitted. “We came here with a bit of fight left in us – obviously with the championship still to fight for. Unfortunately James [Winslow] had a bit of a moment during practice and suffered a big crash going through the forest. The boys worked very hard to get us back on for qualifying, but we just missed the session, so were forced to start rear of field for race one.
“It was a big drive through the field to the podium for James, and had we not been delayed by the Safety Car, we were certainly going to be able to make it to the front in the opening race, but second was a good result. That closed us up on Rod [Salmon] in the points after their disastrous run, but it wasn’t enough.
“We were pretty happy to have won the round again – that’s always nice – and we’re very proud of our ability to bounce back from adversity. I think that has been a bit of our signature style all year, but in the end, Rod was the champ..”
From opening practice it was clear that the 32-point difference between points-leader Rod Salmon and the Equity-One duo was always going to be a tough mountain to climb, and with 110-points on offer, the result was certainly a long way from guaranteed.
Things started brilliantly with Winslow setting a stunning time in opening practice to top the session, the multiple Formula 3 champion and Le Mans prototype star setting a 1:33.016 to be half a second up on outright championship points leader Richard Muscat.
The Englishman looked set to do it again in P2, but part way through the session a red flag incident brought the session to an early close, and when Winslow failed to return to pit lane with the remainder of the field, the Equity-One team knew they had trouble.
“Look it was my fault,” Winslow admitted afterwards. “I went into the Southern Loop 10kmh up on my previous best and I was a couple of inches off my ideal line and the grip just wasn’t there and around it went. I’m disappointed for the guys to have to work this hard to fix the car, but thankful the Audi R8 is such an incredibly strong car..”
“That’s part of motor-racing,” car-owner Dean Koutsoumidis admitted. “That’s his first off in seven years, and his biggest crash ever, yet within 12-hours the team had completely sorted the car and it’s ready to go for tomorrow. Unfortunately we weren’t able to record a time in qualifying so we’ll start rear-of-field, but we’re in the race and still in with a shot to take the title!”
Initially there were concerns that the #71 Audi would fail to reappear, but further investigation by the MPC team revealed that the car could be repaired for the opening 40-minute race, but despite a marathon effort by the team, they were unable to effect repairs ahead of qualifying forcing a rear-of-field start for the first race.
With six Audi R8s entered for Highlands, the MPC team had plenty of spares on hand to repair the Equity-One Audi, but despite initial investigations revealing predominantly suspension damage, further analysis revealed that a drive shaft had done some damage to the gearbox necessitating an overnight change.
Once sorted though Winslow charged through the field in the opening race to hand Koutsoumidis the car from second place, but no sooner had they made the change, than a Safety Car was called for the unfortunate Keith Kassulke (brake failure at the fast hairpin), in the end it saw the race conclude without any further racing laps.
Race two saw a solid start by Koutsoumidis, Winslow bringing the car home, although the team were a little frustrated by the overall race result, having believed felt that eventual race winner Jan Jinadasa was in fact a lap down on them.
Despite that, they were classified as the round winner – the third time in six rounds – the Koutsoumidis/Winslow combination though falling 15-points short of series victory, a win in race two though would not have changed the result.
With the Australian GT Championship over for another year, the Equity-One team turned their attention to the ‘Highlands 101’ a three-hour, 101-lap journey around the 4.1-kilometre Cromwell circuit.
Team-boss Dean Koutsoumidis started the car, after Winslow completed the running leg of the event [each team chose one driver to run a 250-metre ‘le Mans’ style foot race to their car before the designated driver could leave pit lane] and they were looking good early, but then things went pear-shaped..
“We came into the 101 with a blank canvas and it was all going according to plan,” Koutsoumidis explained. “I think we led the first 26-laps in our class and the car was a treat and we were doing good times, but then the steering started going away to the point where it was almost entirely seized up and I had to stay out for another eight laps like that.
“I brought it in – the boys tried to fix it but it also at the same time caught fire.. and whilst they were addressing the steering and the fire we lost about five laps. I went out again – lost the steering again – but I persevered until my scheduled stop and the boys fixed it again. Then James jumped in and the steering went again, and he came off at turn four and hit the wall.”
“It was a very tough weekend,” Winslow agreed. “We recovered well and won the GT round in Trophy class, so that was a great start. The 101 started off nicely, Dean was driving very, very well and completed his quickest lap of the weekend, so we were leading Trophy class and eighth or ninth overall at one point.
“Dean kept pumping out good laps, but then everything came to an end after we had a couple of issues with the car. The power-steering stopped working, something broke in the front end during Dean’s stint and a bit of bodywork started flapping so we eventually pulled him in, and then the car caught fire after an oil pipe in the rear touched the exhaust – we think perhaps an engine mount had broken, and it turned out there was power steering fluid leaking on the exhaust which is what caught fire.
“The marshals got on top of that pretty quickly and extinguished the fire. They sent Dean back out after they fixed the car to see if we could limp it home, and he did a great job to get within a couple of seconds of his best time with fire extinguisher foam pouring out of the back of the car..
“I jumped in with an hour and a half to go and I think I managed an hour, but the car definitely wasn’t right with everything it had been through so we were just cruising really. Despite that we set some pretty good lap times – but 20-laps from home at turn six, just towards the end of the corner the steering just didn’t work any more..
“I turned in, the steering went stiff, and then light and then just turned hard left into the wall – I only just glanced the edge of the wall, but I think it popped a driveshaft and that was that, I just managed to pull it off the side of the track, where I could sit and watch the race unfold because I was trapped on the inside of the circuit.
“It was a bit of a disappointing way to end the season – the positives are that Dean is driving very well and pumping out some great lap times, although the car is looking a little worse for wear, but we’ll be back to do it again next year..!”
For the Equity-One Motorsport team plans are in place to be a part of the 2015 Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli, although at this early stage, Koutsoumidis cannot confirm in what..
“The way the poor old Audi looks after Highlands, I really think it wants to just quietly drive away into a paddock and die.. It has been a terrific car, but with what we’ve learnt this year, I’m kind of looking at the big picture and potentially an outright car.. We’ll see what Santa brings!?”
Rnd#6 2014 Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli
Highlands Motorsport Park, Cromwell, NZ
Qualifying (7 November)
1. Tony Quinn/Garth Tander (GT – Aston Martin Vantage GT3) – 1:31.855
2. Richard Muscat (GT – Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3) – 1:32.097
3. Justin McMillan/Steve Richards (GT – Gallardo FL2 GT3) – 1:32.954
4. Jono Lester (GT – Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) – 1:33.365
5. John Bowe (GT – Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) – 1:33.832
6. Klark Quinn/Shane Van Gisbergen (GT – Mosler MT900 GT3) – 1:34.043
7. Inky Tulloch/Craig Lowndes (GT – Chevrolet Camaro GT3) – 1:34.131
8. Rod Salmon/Nathan Antunes (GTT – Audi R8 LMS GT3) – 1:34.741
9. Jim Manolios/Ryan Millier (GT – Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) – 1:35.521
10. Andrew Macpherson/Ben Porter (GT – Porsche 997 GT3-R) – 1:35.561
DNQ. Dean Koutsoumidis/James Winslow (GTT – Audi R8 LMS GT3)
Race#1 (40-minutes – 8 November, 2014)
1. Richard Muscat (GT – Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3) – 19-laps
2. John Bowe (GT – Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)
3. Garth Tander/Tony Quinn (GT – Aston Martin Vantage GT3)
4. Ryan Millier/Jim Manolios (GT – Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)
5. Shane Van Gisbergen/Klark Quinn (GT – McLaren MP4-12C)
6. Jono Lester (GT – Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)
7. Peter Fitzgerald (GT – Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra)
8. Peter Edwards (GT – Bentley Continental GT3)
9. John Magro/Ockert Fourie (GTT – Audi R8 LMS GT3)
10. James Winslow/Dean Koutsoumidis (GTT – Audi R8 LMS GT3) – 18-laps
Race#2 (40-minutes – 8 November, 2014)
1. Richard Muscat (GT – Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3) – 22-laps
2. Garth Tander/Tony Quinn (GT – Aston Martin Vantage GT3)
3. John Bowe (GT – Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)
4. Shane Van Gisbergen/Klark Quinn (GT – McLaren MP4-12C)
5. Peter Edwards (GT – Bentley Continental GT3)
6. Justin McMillan/Steve Richards (GT – Gallardo FL2 GT3)
7. Jan Jinadasa/Daniel Gaunt (GTT – Lamborghini Gallardo LP560)
8. Craig Lowndes/Inky Tulloch (GT – Chevrolet Camaro GT3)
9. Jim Manolios/Ryan Millier (GT – Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)
10. Peter Fitzgerald (GT – Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra)
11. Dean Koutsoumidis/James Winslow (GTT – Audi R8 LMS GT3)
Highlands 101 (101-laps – 9 November, 2014)
1. Garth Tander/Tony Quinn (GT – Aston Martin Vantage GT3) – 101-laps
2. Rod Salmon/Nathan Antunes (GT – Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra)
3. Justin McMillan/Steve Richards (GT – Interlloy Gallardo FL2 GT3)
4. Peter Fitzgerald/Michael Almond (GT – Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra) – 99-laps
5. Craig Lowndes/Inky Tulloch (GT – Chevrolet Camaro GT3)
6. Steve McLaughlan/Warren Luff (GT – Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra)
7. Ross Lilley/Paul Kelly (GT – Gallardo FL2 GT3) – 97-laps
8. Michael Hovey/Matty Campbell (GTT – Porsche Cup Car) – 96-laps
9. Adrian Deitz/Cameron McConville (GT – Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)
10. Simon Ellingham/Andre Heimgartner (GTT – Porsche Cup Car) – 95-laps
DNF. Dean Koutsoumidis/James Winslow (GTT – Audi R8 LMS GT3) – 67-laps
2014 Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli
GT Trophy points (after round six of six)
1. Rod Salmon (566-points), 2. Dean Koutsoumidis/James Winslow (551), 3. Nathan Antunes (498), 4. Michael Hovey (374), 5. Jan Jinadasa/Daniel Gaunt (356), 6. Theo Koundouris (265), 7. Simon Ellingham (249), 8. Matt Campbell (235), 9. Ockert Fourie/John Magro (174), 10. Indiran Padayachee (136)
2015 Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli
Rnd#1 – 26 February-1 March, Clipsal 500, Adelaide, SA**
Rnd#2 – 22-24 May, Phillip Island, Victoria*
Rnd#3 – 10-12 July, Townsville, Queensland**
Rnd#4 – 21-23 August, Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW**
Rnd#5 – 11-13 September, Sandown 500, Melbourne, Victoria**
Rnd#6 – 6-8 November, Highlands Motorsport Park, Cromwell, NZ (TBC)
(* with the Shannons Nationals, ** with V8 Supercars)
Source. Motorsport Media
