30/05/2016

BMW Team SRM - Australian GT Championship/Australian Endurance Championship

Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Victoria (27-29 May, 2016)

 

BMW Team SRM endured a heavy schedule at the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit over the weekend, campaigning back-to-back events with both the fourth round of the Australian GT Championship and the opening round of the Australian Endurance Championship contested at the popular Victorian circuit.

 

With the #100 BMW M6 GT3 finally in full 2016 FIA GT3 specification - matching their European and American siblings - reigning Bathurst champion Steven Richards and team-mate Max Twigg contested two 60-minute races for Australian GT, followed by a 101-lap, three-hour enduro on Sunday afternoon.

 

For Richards the results don’t give a true indication of just how competitive the BMW Team SRM M6 was across the weekend, after two poorly placed Safety Car interventions and a string of tyre failures dropped the team down the order in the closing stages of all three races, although the reigning Bathurst 1000 champion admitted he was more than happy with the outcome and the pace of the car.

 

“We took some big forward steps at Phillip Island, but sadly were robbed of what would have been some very good results through a sequence of issues over which we had no control,” Richards explained.

 

“Both Max and I had great pace in practice and we carried that through to qualifying for the Australian GT round, I was especially pleased to be fifth in my session, just four tenths off pole-man Garth Tander who was driving a car that has enjoyed some serious development over the last 12 months.

 

“The first Australian GT race saw us third and well within touch of the leaders ahead of the stop. Max rejoined and was running strongly, bringing the car home sixth for our best result of the season, proving the worth of the development phase we’ve been in over the last few months.

 

“For race two we were again strong, but we had an unusual failure with the power steering pump and were forced to pit, and that was effectively that, but we’d gained some more valuable data ahead of the opening round of the Australian Endurance Championship and were all set to go.. Sadly though fate intervened!”

 

Twigg qualified ninth in the opening leg, whilst Richards was comfortably mid-field, the team playing the strategy game on tyres in preparation for the two stop event, but whilst on target for a comfortable top ten result, fate intervened with three separate tyre failures during the race which ultimately affected strategy and dropped them down the order by race end. They weren’t the only ones, 30-separate incidents occurred with tyres during the race, in most cases as a result of the debris on track, although for Richards that was cold comfort.

 

“It was frustrating, no question,” Richards admitted on reflection.

 

“The debris on the circuit was incredible, carbon-fibre shards, rubber, dirt and stones, in fact it was so bad I thought they’d call a Safety Car intervention to clear it up. Sadly there were Safety Cars, but they didn’t work in our favour with our longer pit stops, which was frustrating, but that’s how it goes sometimes.

 

“The car is fantastic, for the first time this year we’re running with the same specification as BMW teams in the Blancpain Series, so we now have the benefit of the development work being done overseas as well, and we proved the value of that knowledge.

 

“Both Max and I were fast, but things like Safety Cars and tyre failures are issues we cannot control, we just have to adapt as best we can around the situation and claim as many points as we could, which is exactly what we did.”

 

BMW Team SRM now shifts its focus to the penultimate round of the Australian GT Championship on the streets of Townsville on 8-10 July, followed by round two of the Endurance Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park on 26-28 August.

 

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Victoria (27-28 May)

 

Qualifying#1 (20-minutes) - 28 May

1. Elliott Barbour (McLaren 650S GT3) - 1:28.6694

2. Matt Kingsley (McLaren 650S GT3) - 1:28.8549

3. Klark Quinn (McLaren 650S GT3) - 1:28.8968

4. Tony D’Alberto (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) - 1:29.5367

5. Ricky Capo (BMW Z4 GT3) - 1:29.7137

19. Max Twigg (BMW Team SRM BMW M6 GT3) - 1:33.5721

 

Qualifying#2 (20-minutes) - 28 May

1. Garth Tander (Audi R8 LMS GT3) - 1:26.8933

2. Shane Van Gisbergen (McLaren 650S GT3) - 1:27.0354

3. Marco Bonanomi (Audi R8 LMS GT3) - 1:27.1049

4. Nathan Antunes (McLaren 650S GT3) - 1:27.1931

5. Steve Richards (BMW Team SRM BMW M6 GT3) - 1:27.3346

 

Race#1 (60-mins) - 28 May

1. Nathan Morcom (McLaren 650S GT3) - 38-laps

2. Yasser Shahin (Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 GT3)

3. Klark Quinn/Van Gisbergen (McLaren 650S GT3)

4. D’Alberto/Smythe (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)

5. Tony Walls (McLaren 650S GT3) 

6. Twigg/Richards (BMW Team SRM BMW M6 GT3)

 

Race#2 (60-mins) - 28 May

1. Yasser Shahin (Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 GT3) - 34-laps

2. McLaughlan/Tander (Audi R8 LMS GT3)

3. McMillan/Wood (Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 GT3)

4. Denyer/Kingsley (McLaren 650S GT3)

5. Ricky Capo (BMW Z4 GT3) 

DNF. Richards/Twigg (BMW Team SRM BMW M6 GT3) - 26-laps

 

-----------------------------------------------------

 

Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Victoria (28-29 May)

 

Qualifying#1 (20-minutes) - 29 May

1. Miguel Molina (Audi R8 LMS GT3) - 1:26.6776

2. Peter Hackett (Mercedes-AMG GT3) - 1:27.7935

3. Morgan Haber (BMW M6 GT3) - 1:27.8866

4. Klark Quinn (McLaren 650S GT3) - 1:28.1544

5. Tony D’Alberto (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) - 1:29.5367

9. Max Twigg (BMW Team SRM BMW M6 GT3) - 1:29.0114

 

Qualifying#2 (20-minutes) - 29 May

1. Shane Van Gisbergen (McLaren 650S GT3) - 1:26.6372

2. Garth Tander (Audi R8 LMS GT3) - 1:26.6521

3. Daniel Gaunt (Aston Martin Vantage GT3) - 1:26.7010

4. Craig Baird (Mercedes-AMG GT3) - 1:27.0465

5. Marcus Marshall (Audi R8 LMS GT3) - 1:27.0517

14. Steven Richards (BMW Team SRM BMW M6 GT3) - 1:27.8660

 

Race (101-laps) - 29 May

1. Denyer/Morcom (McLaren 650S GT3) - 101-laps

2. Klark Quinn/Van Gisbergen (McLaren 650S GT3)

3. Hackett/Storey (Mercedes-AMG GT3)

4. D’Alberto/Smythe (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)

5. Tony Quinn/Gaunt (Aston Martin Vantage GT3)

18. Twigg/Richards (BMW Team SRM BMW M6 GT3) - 97-laps

 

Rnd#1 - 3-6 March, Clipsal 500, Adelaide, SA

Rnd#2 - 17-20 March, Albert Park [AGP], Victoria

Rnd#3 - 6-8 May, Barbagallo, WA

Rnd#4 - 27-28 May, Phillip Island, Victoria

Rnd#5 - 8-10 July, Townsville, Queensland

Rnd#6 - 11-12 November, Highlands Motorsport Park, NZ



 

Rnd#1 - 29 May, Phillip Island, Victoria

Rnd#2 - 26-28 August, Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW

Rnd#3 - 28-30 October, Hampton Downs, NZ

Rnd#4 - 13 November, Highlands Motorsport Park, NZ


 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

BMW Team SRM are proudly supported by BMW Australia, BMW Financial Services Australia and President Limo Australia.