Lamborghini Versus Porsche: Wakefield Park Set For Season Showdown


2005-11-08

A NO-HOLES-BARRED Season ending showdown between two of the world’s great prestige marques will be the highlight of the fifth and final round of the 2005 Speed Energy Drink Australian GT Championship and Porsche Drivers Challenge at Wakefield Park, near Goulburn, this weekend.

After a season filled with massive battles up and down the East coast of Australia, Bryce Washington (ADRAD Radiator Experts Porsche 911 GT3 Cup) and Peter Hackett (Team Lamborghini Australia Lamborghini Diablo GTR) will go head to head at the rural New South Wales circuit to determine who can be called the 2005 Australian GT Champion in a season-ending shootout.

The battle between the two young stars of Australian motorsport reached its highest level at Phillip island in August; the two coming together a corner from home after yet another race long battle at the fast Victorian circuit. Washington came off second best, spinning to the outside of the racetrack as Hackett went on to take his second win of the round.

The leading pair head to Goulburn separated by 54 points – Hackett needing to finish 6th in class during each of the scheduled three races (With Washington winning all three) to seal the championship.

“Its going to be a big weekend, because I’ll have two championships on the line,” Said Hackett, who will also try and clinch the F4000 series the same weekend.

”I’m going to approach it mentally like every other race weekend, but the plan will probably be to try and secure the championship in the first race or two and then go out and try to get a result in the final one.

“Both Bryce and the Vipers should be very fast up there, so we’ve got to be in it to win it!” he said.

Washington will be in a unique position at the final round with the chance to win two national championships in one shot – essentially needing only to take the start at Wakefield to seal the Australian Porsche Drivers’ Challenge (APDC) crown after leading all season long.

And although the South Australian leads the points chase by a mammoth 78 points, Just 21 separate second and third in the competitive all-Porsche championship – Mark Eddy (Quarterback Clothing Porsche 911 GT3 RS) and John Kaias (ABCOR Porsche 911 GT3 Cup) the two people out for glory at Wakefield.

Both have been in the thick of the action this year, Eddy scoring a podium finish in the Eastern Creek enduro last weekend, whilst John Kaias’ best round came in Queensland where he was second only to Washington in the APDC stakes.

Washington (Open Class), Simon Middleton (Class A) and Don Tryhorn (Class B) are the respective class leaders heading into the final round of the championship, the battle for Class A still wide open with Malcolm Lynn a strong shot at the title on home ground this weekend.

The battle for the minor points positions in GT competition should also be competitive, a good sized field entered to try and make one last-ditched effort to improve their season-ending standings.

Ian Palmer (Instant Foundations Brabham Honda NSX) returns to a track expected to suit the agile turbocharged Honda, whilst Neil Bryson will debut an impressive new livery on his Ferrari 360 Challenge and is expected to lead the charge of the Ferrari brigade.

Unfortunately, fourth-placed John Teulan will be forced to miss the Wakefield hit out in his Industry Central Ferrari 360 Challenge after damage caused in a crash at Eastern Creek last weekend proved too much to repair in the short time between meetings.

And whilst the contenders for both top spot and the podium in the championship will be hoping for a clean run, a number of contenders have nominated for Wakefield looking for some end of season glory.

Tasmanian star Greg Crick will contest his first championship round for over a year when he brings his crickcars.com.au Chrysler Viper ACR to the rural Goulburn circuit and should challenge despite a lack of race miles in 2005.

Impressively, Crick won last weekend’s non-championship endurance event at the A1 Grand Prix of Nations, taking the Viper to a dominating 50-second victory in Saturday’s one-hour race, before backing up that result with a strong second in Sunday’s sprint behind the flying Allan Simonsen – proving that the Viper has more than enough pace to feature strongly in shorter races.

Fellow Viper driver D’arcy Russell will give the fans of American Iron a two-pronged attack; his 2005 race-winning car set again to feature prominently in the results after tasting success at Phillip Island two months ago. Russell has further developed the Viper since his successful return to competition this year and should pose a threat in Goulburn.

Round 4 Porsche Drivers Challenge standout Sven Burchartz (Bolle / Cargraphic Porsche 911 GT3 Cup) will be looking to challenge on a track expected to suit his recently upgraded Porsche, whilst Malcolm Lynn will use significant NSW State series experience at the Goulburn circuit in an attempt to fight at the front of the field.

The final round of the Speed Energy Drink Australian GT Championship and Porsche Drivers challenge will be contested over three races at Wakefield Park this November 11 – 13.

The series’ features high prestige performance vehicles from world famous marques like Porsche, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Ford, Chrysler, Lotus and Honda in one competitive field.

‘Class within a class’ racing is a feature; large fields in four classes (Australian GT, Australian Porsche Drivers Challenge Open Class, Classes A and B and outright) mean that there is always action throughout the field in each and every race.

Speed Energy Drinks, Drivetravel.com, Dunlop Tyres, Stand 21 Racewear and Porsche Cars Australia proudly support the series.

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