The finest ever Australian field of GT cars will compete in round 5 of the Championship to be held at the Phillip Island Circuit on August 11- 12. The Australian GT Championship is a major draw card of the Shannon’s Nationals Motor Racing Championships.

The already exotic grid that has competed in this year’s Championship chase is to be boosted by a brand new Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 for John Bowe entered by Lamborghini Australia, while Allan Simonsen will compete in a Ferrari 430 to be run by Mark Coffey Racing with Coopers sponsorship. Simon Middleton has also flown in a Porsche 996 RSR to debut at this meeting that will be prepared by Porsche legend Peter Fitzgerald.

These cars complement the other two Lamborghini Gallardo GT3’s of Bryce Washington (NATRAD Radiators & Auto Air) and Ian Palmer’s, Palmer Steel Industries sponsored sister car, while the John Kaias owned and Abcor, Preston General Engineering sponsored Aston Martin DBRS9 is to be driven by V8 Supercar pilot Will Davison.

Gold Coast based New Zealand driver Craig Baird has been announced as the driver of the Consolidated Chemical Company (CCC) sponsored Ferrari 360GT. Baird will now pilot the CCC Ferrari in lieu of car owner Ted Huglin who was originally down to drive at the ultra-fast Victorian circuit. The driver ‘merry-go-round’ has come about as a result of 2007 GT Championship points leader Allan Simonsen vacating the CCC Ferrari 360GT seat in favour of a berth in a Ferrari 430 entered by Mark Coffey Racing.

The signing of Baird to drive the Consolidated Chemical Company Ferrari is the latest move in what has become a multi-million dollar ‘chess game’ in the battle for Australian GT Championship supremacy, and is a sure indication that the CCC team is certainly racing for a win. Baird, whose vast experience covers Formula Ford, Formula Atlantic, NZ Touring Car Championship, Australian Super Tourers, South African Touring Car Championship, NZ TransZam Championship, British Touring Car Championship, Nations Cup, NZ GT3 Cup Challenge and V8 Supercars, is currently running in third position in the 2007 Australian Carrera Cup Series.
 

Baird, who won the NZ Touring Car Championship from 1994 to 1997, is currently in top form having won the round 4 of the Carrera Cup Series held at Queensland Raceway last month.

The Ferrari marque is also to be represented by John Teulan in the Industry Central, Stahlwille, Shell backed Ferrari 430, and the Quarterback sponsored Ferrari 360 Challenge of Mark Eddy. The Porsche horde is to be headed by David Wall’s World of Learning sponsored GT3 RSR that is currently lying third in the Championship, with other examples of the legendary German manufacturer in the hands of Simon Middleton, Max Twigg, Damien Flack, Iain Sherrin, Paul Tresidder, Grant Sherrin, Jon Trende, Peter Fountas, Paul Bolinowsky, Sven Burchartz and Ross Lilley who will swap his GT3 Cup Car for his new GT3 R, the same car that was campaigned by Mark Eddy in 2006. Lotus cars also line up on the grid in the form of Peter Lucas in the Urban Arrangement sponsored Elise model, while Angelo Lazaris has entered his Exige GT3 under the Zagame Lotus banner. Eric Northwood will also contest the Island in a Lotus Elise
competing in his second event after joining the category at Bathurst.

An interested observer at the meeting will be Hans Reiter from Reiter Engineering who develop the Lamborghini Gallardo to GT3 specification. ‘Five true Supercar manufacturers, and new drivers to the Championship of the calibre of John Bowe and Will Davison joining our existing stars at one of the world’s finest circuits in the form of Phillip Island make this a most important event in the development of the category’, GT spokesperson Terry Little said today.

2007 Australian GT Championship Results (after 4 of 8 rounds): 1. Allan Simonsen Ferrari 360 GT (394); 2. Bryce Washington Lamborghini Gallardo (390); 3. David Wall Porsche GT3 RSR (356); 4. Damien Flack Porsche GT3 Cup Car (202); 5. Peter Lucas Lotus Elise (195.5).