Geoff Taunton will reveal a brand-new Australian-made Marc GT car at Phillip Island this weekend when he lines up for the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS.
Bult by Marc Cars Australia and PACE Innovations, the car is cost-effective and driver-friendly that caters to both experienced and grass-roots competitors, having been an upgrade from the Marc Focus and Mazda launched in the last decade.
Ahead of the round, the 58-year-old will be hoping to prove his latest project can compete with some of the best in the business, as he gets behind the wheel of the new car for the first time in the competitive series this weekend.
“It’s taken a couple of years to build up, but it’s the best of the best, it’s just a magnificent car,” Taunton said.
“We have a really reliable engine, a 6.2L LS from Holden performance out of the United States, our amazing tuning man has made it state-of-the-art and full of the latest IT technology.
“The whole car besides the bare engine is made in Australia, and I am very proud of that.
“I am a very patriotic man, I am very proud that I have designed a car that is made In Australia, is extremely fast and is the best value for money.”
After previously testing the car a few weeks back, Taunton is hoping this weekend is only the beginning of a long tenure in the category, and credits his team’s efforts to have the car to where it is today.
“We debut the car at our Marc car a few weeks back, but we are hoping the GT series will be home to the new Marc,” Taunton states.
“It went well, we had our usual couple of teething problems, real weird technical problems but nothing we couldn’t work with.
“We have done a lot of testing with the car of course, when you’re talking about pace you are getting the absolute best quality – we have perfectionist at our team so it’s always the best of the best.
“I have the best people around me, every person that works with me is just magnificent, you are dealing with the best people. It makes my job very good.”
In what is a very important weekend for the team, it will be as much a learning process as it is about results as they work towards getting the car ready for future events.
“It’s very much a learning process, we are currently working towards the BOP for it to race permanently with the series, so this weekend is extremely important to us,” Taunton explained.
“I’m also driving with Dan Jilesen this weekend, a brilliant driver so I would love for us to finish somewhere near Brad Schumacher, somewhere there up the top with the best AM’s.”
Taunton and Jilesen will take to the track for the first time on Friday for practice, before competing in two hour-long races on Saturday and Sunday where the team will get a real indication of where they sit in the pecking order.
Tickets for the event are still available from motorsporttickets.com.au
For those who are unable to make the trip to Phillip Island, Stan Sport will provide live and uninterrupted coverage from most of Saturday and Sunday’s action, while 9Gem will also broadcast three hours of Saturday afternoon’s racing.
The Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS field will tackle a pair of one-hour races at the Shannons SpeedSeries event at Phillip Island on 12-14 May.
