The Shannons Nationals caught up with 2018 CAMS Australian GT Championship winner Geoff Emery, who sealed a second consecutive title after a dramatic final race in New Zealand.
Shannons Nationals: How does it feel to win the CAMS Australian GT Championship for the second consecutive year?
Geoff Emery: It was definitely good to win, however we really didn’t expect to win to be honest. There were six cars with their hands on the trophy with five laps to go in the final race at New Zealand, so it was an exciting end to the season, which we were lucky to enough to win.
Interestingly, we didn’t lead the series until the final five laps of the year so it was an incredible feeling to seal victory in such dramatic circumstances.
SN: There must have been some pretty big celebrations after your shock victory.
GE: We didn’t really celebrate too much to be honest. We were in in New Zealand and due to the nature of the lead up, we were scheduled on a flight to come home straight after so there wasn’t too much. We had the GT presentation in November, where I was able to soak up the win with a few drinks and all the boys, which was nice.
SN: Would the best moment of your year be those final five laps?
GE: Obviously the last round was the most exciting for our team, but I would have to say that the best moment of the year was actually at Sandown a few months earlier.
It was a bit of a turning point for us in our season, because it had been a rocky start and at Sandown we won two out of the three races, which had a real impact on our season. So definitely Sandown I would say due to the effect it had on the season.
SN: Was there a worst moment for the year?
GE: Probably the worst moment was at The Bend Motorsport Park, we really struggled with the speed of the car and failed to find our groove.
SN: Anyone you would like to thank for your incredible season?
GE: Steve McLaughlin who owns the car, as well as Troy and Leigh at Melbourne Performance Centre who put the whole thing together for me. I would also like to thank Toby Mordue and Eric Pender who worked on the car relentlessly. Finally I have to thank Garth Tander, who helped seal the title.
SN: An obvious question, but is the plan to go the illustrious hat trick of titles?
GE: I think we would like to go for three-in-a-row. We are talking about putting a deal together. There are obviously some sponsorship deals we need to put together but I feel we are close to something, so we will be able to announce our plans soon.