NO THREAT TO SYDNEY GT RACE

The Australian GT Championship have denied rumours that they would not be on the grid for the Sydney street race in 2010. A post on an Internet forum had claimed that the GTs had been replaced for Sydney, a story denied by Australian GT Director Rachael Wagg. "I don't know where they'd get that one from." she said. "Our calendar for next year is almost set and at this stage the only date not confirmed is a planned race at Phillip Island." Ms. Wagg said that it was possible that the GT series could run it's own meeting at the Island if nothing suitable could be found.

MOSLER MONSTERED OUT OF AUSSIE GT

The Australian GT series has lost one of it's major drawcards with the withdrawal of John Teulan's Mosler team. Teulan hit out at Australian GT organisers, saying that that despite encouragement to enter the series, it had now become pretty clear they wanted to get rid of the car.   "The organisers want us out there to help the flash car parade, but this way we may as well drive a local taxi" he said.   Teulan said that the car had undergone no less than 8 parity changes in it's short two meeting local history that had created confusion and made the car potentially dangerous to drive.   "the standard car is 1200 Kilos, in Europe they run at 1300, by the time we're finished we'd be carrying an extra 450 kgs at Phillip Island and that's not to mention the ride height and air restrictors."   Teulan said that changes to the car after the first race in Melbourne had already slowed the car by around three seconds a lap "now they want to slug us another 80kg"   Air restrictors had already cost the car around 35% of it's power and the ride height changes had left the car in a potentially dangerous racing condition.   "These things are not touring cars, they are designed with a certain ride height and if you start messing to much with it the car can become almost undrivable at high speed."

MOSLER MONSTERS STREETS OF ADELAIDE

  A winning debut for the controversial Mosler MT900 as New Zealand driver Craig Baird wins race one of the Australian GT Championship on the streets of Adelaide. Starting from pole Baird jumped to an immediate lead and was never headed despite close attention from David Wall in the Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S. Klark Quinn showed his potential as a professional driver with a strong third place in his Porsche 996 GT3 also taking the win in the Challenge class. 24 cars finished the race with the tight confines of the Adelaide street circuit testing even the best drivers. Jim Richard's retired early after contact with another car, John Tuelan spun his Mosler late in the race and John Briggs was out early in the Dodge Viper. The second race for the Australian GT Championship will be held tomorrow (Sunday)  

COME ON WITHOUT, COME ON WITHIN

Tony Quinn and Shawn Jamieson were among the winners in the opening round of the 2009 Shannons Nationals, held at Bathurst's famed Mount Panorama last weekend, 20-22 February. Running in conjunction with the WPS Bathurst 12 Hour, over 260 competitors tackled 'The Mountain' in action-packed Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge, Saloon Car, Formula Vee, HQ Holden and Improved Production races on Friday and Saturday.   On debut in the growing all-Porsche series, the versatile Quinn won all three races of the GT3 Cup Challenge season opener to take the round win ahead of Bill Pye and 2008 champion Sven Burchartz. Quinn battled with 997 Trophy Class competitor Nathan Caratti at the head of the field all weekend, with Caratti taking a dominant class win and beating Quinn to the chequered flag in Race Two. “It was good to have Nathan to race against,“ Quinn said.  “A couple of the other drivers had problems and I think guys like Max Twigg probably didn't have the kind of weekend they are capable of. But the series is really great and growing - and I hope it continues to do so.“ Series debutant Matt Kingsley's first race back from injury after a heavy crash at the 2008 Clipsal 500 was brief, retiring from the Race One after he was left stranded on the grid by a clutch failure and collected by Max Twigg.

FERRARI WINS SANDOWN BUT LAMBORGHINI TAKES THE TITLE

The Ferrari team of Nick O'Halloran and Alan Simonsen took out the Sandown GT classic last weekend. Held over two one hour heats the black Ferrari crossed the line over 16 seconds ahead of the Viper of Ross Lilley and former Nations Cup Champion Greg Crick. Tony Quinn making his debut in the ex Peter Hackett Aston Martin DBRS9 led the race at various times but fell back to third late in the race. The Lamborghini team of Ted Huglin and John Bowe came through to finish fourth with former F1 driver Ivan Capelli impressing everybody with his speed in the Maserati Trofero. Max Twigg in a Porsche GT3 Cup Car was sixth to take out Class B over the team of Michael Locisano and Marc Cini with high profile Hollywood actor Eric Bana also in a Porsche in third. Only 13 cars finished the race which was dealt a blow on Friday when the cars of Championship Contender John Kaias and Kim Bourke came together during private practice. With Kaias out Mark Eddy in the Lamborghini became the Australian National GT Champion after a seventh place finish.

WIN FREE TICKETS TO SANDOWN NATIONALS

The 2009 Australian Circuit Racing season rounds up with the Shannon's Nationals from Sandown on November 29-30 and YOU can be there! Thanks to the Shannons Nationals, In Pit Lane is offering five lucky viewers the chance to be our guest at Sandown for what looks like a huge weekend of motorsport variety. The main event sees the glamour and excitement of the final round of the Australian GT Championship as Lamborghini driver Mark Eddy faces off against the Aston Martin of John Kaias in the fight for this year's title. But they wont have it all on their own though as several top drivers return to the series for the grand final. Australian motorsport legend John Bowe will return to to track driving with Ted Huglin in a Lamborghini Gallardo and as a five time GT race winner Bowe will be hard to beat.

PORSCHE JOIN AUSSIE GT REVIVAL

Porsche will make a challenge to the 2009 the Australian GT Championship following the successful testing of a brand new GT3 997 Cup S model at Sydney's Eastern Creek Raceway. The latest GT3 spec Porsche model will join the ever increasing GT field and and based on the times set during the test the car will be a genuine threat in the GT Championship division. The 997 Cup S will be the first current model Porsche to race in the series in several years due to a controversial ban in the 997 GT3 Cup Car by CAMS in order to protect the Carrera Cup series. One of only fifteen cars produced and the first to arrive in Australia, the Porsche GT3 997 Cup S has all the necessary ingredients to compete with the Gallardo GT3 model Lamborghini, Aston Martin DBRS9, and Ferrari 430 GT3 that have been the ‘gun’ machines in this year’s Australian GT Championship.

NEW VIPER TO BITE DOWN UNDER

The Australian GT Championship has received a major boost with the news that regular competitor Ross Lilley will debut a brand new Dodge Viper at the final round of the series at Melbourne's Sandown Raceway in late November. The new V10 will replace Lilly's ex John Bowe Lamborhini Gallardo  which has been sold to former Porsche driver Dean Grant. Grant, is a veteran of  the Carrera Cup Championship (2003-2006) and was that Series Tag Heuer Champion in both 2004 and 2005.

AUDI TO JOIN GT3, COULD WE SEE IT DOWN UNDER?

The move by the Australian GT Championship to align themselves with FIA GT specs could pay off in the appearance of one of the world's newest and most spectacular sportcars the new Audi R8 GT3.For the first time, Audi Sport will offer a racing sports car specifically developed for customer use in the form of the powerful 500 hp plus GT3 version of the Audi R8 which will be available from late 2009. The logistics and factory space required for the AUDI AG customer programme will be created over the next few months in Ingolstadt, Neckarsulm and Györ.

IN CAR IN A GT3