ASTON TO MISS CLIPSAL, WHILE WALKINSHAW GO MEGA

The Miedecke Stone Motorsport Aston Martin team has announced that it will focus on the Australian Endurance Championship and will not be in attendance at round one of the Australian GT Championship in Adelaide.

The team was working hard to be represented on the grid in Adelaide but after a change of focus towards the long distance races, scheduled to start at Phillip Island in May.

“We had several promising opportunities that didn’t come together in time, and some plans unfortunately change at the last minute that has seen the team alter our program and goals for this year,” George Miedecke said.

“We do not want to compete unless we can do it at the level we expect to operate at. We could have done a last-minute deal to get someone in the car, but that’s not how we want to go racing – especially at a tough event like the Clipsal 500 which is such a demanding weekend.

“That’s why we have made the decision to focus all our efforts onto the Endurance Championship and come out at Phillip Island as strong as possible.”

Miedecke Stone Motorsport believes they have a strong endurance package, as shown at Bathurst 12 Hour where the car started on the second row of the grid and during last year’s Australian Endurance Championship.

“We showed what the car was capable of by qualifying and racing in the top-10 against the incredible field at the Bathurst 12 hour,” Miedecke continued.

“We won a race and stood on the championship podium last year, and we’re going to put everything into making sure the team is ready for Phillip Island. The fans and the other teams know we don’t do anything by halves and we look forward to continuing to justify that reputation.

“We’re talking to some great drivers about coming on board for this year, but we also have available spots in the program so there is opportunity there to be part of it.”

The car was due to be driven by Tony Bates who has moved to a Mercedes-AMG GT3 to be run by Eggleston Motorsport, shown below. Aston Martin will still be represented on the grid in the form of Tony Quinn’s example.

Liam Talbot has announced that the Walkinshaw Porsche that he will drive at round 1 of the Australian GT Championship will be sponsored by Mega Fuels. Talbot will drive the car solo.