M-Motorsport’s Justin McMillan has replaced Jeremy Gray at the top of the GT4 class table ahead of the CAMS Australian GT Championship’s third round at Sandown.
After a podium finish at Albert Park, the Victorian crew, headed by team principle McMillan, delivered a fantastic performance in the CAMS Australian GT Championship first round at the new The Bend Motorsport Park.
McMillan and co-driver Glen Wood dominated the class in their KTM X-Bow from the start, setting the pace in qualifying as Wood set the fastest overall time of 3:21.8559, just under three seconds clear of second place.
Despite the challenging weather, a late change to the scheduled two races on the extended 7.7km GT circuit to just one race on the 4.9km international track, the KTM X-Bow drivers couldn’t put a foot wrong, as their only serious challenge came from M-Motorsport teammates, Trent Harrison and David Crampton.
An entertaining battle between Wood and Harrison saw their lap times mere tenths apart, but McMillan and Wood’s car was over a lap ahead and never looked back as they convincingly won the race, while Harrison and Crampton remained third behind Gray.
The result reflected a dominant display for M-Motorsport as they finished with both teams on the podium, despite the car’s difficulties leading up to the race, causing McMillan to reassess the plan for Sandown.
“It was clear the BoP (balance of power) was wrong for the KTM at the Australian Grand Prix, so it was adjusted and clearly we had a better weapon this weekend,” McMillan explained.
“It’s such a comfortable car to drive, even though it is a lot more physical, but you can find pace pretty quickly. For me, that might be semi-retirement too, so to go out with a win was important.
“The car will still run, but perhaps with another driver whilst I focus more on business, but looks like we might be a three-car operation at Sandown.”
McMillan (476 points) goes into Sandown holding a narrow six-point advantage over Jeremy Gray (470), while Glen Wood holds down third spot, 150 points behind (320).
After placing third in their first race of the season, Harrison and Crampton now sit in equal fifth place overall (244), 35 points below Andrew Miedecke (279) as M-Motorsport look to build on their positive start in the championship.
The CAMS Australian GT Championship’s next round will be the second sprint leg for 2018 taking place as part of the Shannons Nationals second round at Sandown Raceway on 11-13 May.
Tickets to Sandown’s Shannons Nationals event are available here.