GTWC AUSTRALIA TEAMS TEST AT WINTON

Two Victorian GT World Challenge Australia teams have returned to the track this week, conducting testing at Winton Motor Raceway.

Both Grove Racing and GT Trophy team Bespoke Motor Cars were able to complete laps of the circuit under Victorian Government’s legislation providing allowances for professional athletes and support staff during the current COVID-19 lockdown.

The Grove father-son pair of Brenton and Stephen experimented with set-up changes to their new Porsche 991 GT3R, after finishing fourth and second in the Pro-Am division during the last event at The Bend Motorsport Park in May.

“We had four or five different things that we wanted to try yesterday and different philosophies that I guess we kind of worked through at The Bend,” Brenton Grove said.

“We realised there were some deficiencies with where we were at, so we had a really strong plan to work through.

“Most of it all came off, so I think we’re in a much better place in terms of understanding and getting the most out of the car, then we were when we last drove it.”

The Grove Group team currently sit fourth in the standings on 84 points, 59 behind leaders Yasser Shahin and Garth Tander who run an Audi R8 LMS Evo.

GT Trophy competitor Mike Bailey also took his pair of Aston Martin V12 Vantages to test, comparing his 2011 and 2015 examples on the track.

As a result, the Bespoke Motor Cars team were able to rectify issues with 2011 version before the next round of competition, since the 2015 car is designated as a spare.

“Getting back into it yesterday, I think we made a few of those modifications to repair it,” Bailey explained.

“We did a good set-up and actually compared it to the blue (2015) version.”

“It was good to test the two Aston Martins back-to-back because the 2011 and 2015 were very different in driving characteristics, but the times were similar, within tenths.”

TCR Australia driver Dylan O’Keeffe was in attendance to provide advice and feedback throughout the day at Winton.

“Being able to compare stories, corners and go through the video with Dylan was invaluable,” concluded Bailey.

Bailey currently sits ninth in the GT Trophy standings.

GTWC Australia will recommence as part of a packed Bathurst 1000 support card from November 30-December 5.

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