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Unlucky End to GT Championship for Samadi at Sandown

Ash Samadi slotted behind the wheel of the Corse Motorsport Mosler for the last time in 2011, contesting the final round of the Australian GT Championship at Sandown on the weekend of November 18-20.

The weekend got off to a less than satisfactory start in the first practice session, with Samadi running over some debris on the circuit and damaging a brake line, which resulted in a scary brake failure at 234 km/h through the kink at the end of the back straight.

Samadi spun backwards into the tyre barrier, but although there was substantial panel damage to the Mosler, there was surprisingly no chassis damage.

Before the incident, Samadi had actually set the third-fastest time in the session.

Fortunately, there was a long break between the two GT Championship practice sessions, and after some hard work from the Corse Motorsport team, a local composites specialist and the application of a generous amount of race tape, the Mosler was ready for the second session.

Despite some missing bodywork, Samadi still set the fifth-fastest time in the session.

Qualifying was held in wet conditions and Samadi ended the session in seventh position ahead of the two half-hour races.

In Race 1, Samadi made up a position on Mark Eddy at the start, and maintained sixth position for the entire race, resisting an attack from Tony Quinn in the closing stages.

Samadi again moved forward a position in Race 2, and ran fifth in the early stages of the race until he started struggling to select sixth gear about half way into the race, at which stage he was passed by Tony Quinn.

He moved back up to fifth when Dean Grant spun off the track, triggering a safety-car, but when the race restarted with just a handful of laps remaining, Ash spun at Turn 3 and became bogged, unfortunately failing to finish.

“It was a disappointing way to end the season,” Samadi said. “We had some problems with the car and then I made a mistake at the end.”

Despite the setback, Samadi ended the season fifth in the overall Australian GT Championship standings.

Corse Motorsport Magicians Work Their Magic at Phillip Island

The traditional Island Magic event was held at Phillip Island on November 25-27. As in past seasons, Sports Cars were featured on the program, with a one-hour race held as the main feature of the weekend.

Corse Motorsport ran two entries in the meeting, for NSW Production Sports club champion Neale Muston (Porsche 911 GT3) and Iain Pretty (Ford GT). 

The weekend started well enough, with open practice on the Friday in fine and sunny conditions, with a huge field of 52 cars.

However, the weather took a severe turn for the worse on the Saturday, with steady rain and windy conditions keeping the track very wet and significantly reducing both grip and visibility around the circuit.

The Saturday morning qualifying session was almost immediately interrupted by a red flag as drivers struggled to stay on the track in the treacherous conditions. The session restarted with only enough time for drivers to complete one flying lap. Muston put a good lap together to qualify third, while Pretty did not get such a good run and ended up 31^st, leaving him with a lot of work to do in the races.

As Muston and Pretty were driving solo (teams had the option of running one or two drivers for the one-hour race), they each contested the first sprint race, which was held on Saturday afternoon. The race distance was reduced to five laps as a result of delays from the wet conditions.

Muston held down third for most of the race, but was baulked by a slower car coming onto the main straight for the final time, and was relegated to fourth by Angelo Lazaris. Iain Pretty did a great job to work his way up to 13^th in the limited laps.

All teams were required to make compulsory pit-stops for Sunday’s one-hour race. In the case of teams with only one driver, the driver was required to exit and re-enter their vehicle during the pit-stop.

Neale Muston started second on the grid (grid positions were determined based on qualifying times from the starting drivers) and made a ripper start, leading for the first three laps before he was overhauled by the Dodge Viper of Ross Lilley.

Neale was able to stay with the Dodge Viper, and the two cars swapped the lead as they battled their way through slower traffic. They came up on some slower cars on Lap 13 at Turn 4, and unfortunately Muston spun off the circuit while taking evasive action.

“One of the slower cars spun at Honda, and pushed another car wide,” Muston explained. “It pushed me onto the grass, and my car got bogged in the mud. I was pulled out, I restarted and was back on the pace, but that was the end of my chances.”

Muston worked his way back to 22^nd, albeit three laps down on the race winners.

Iain Pretty worked his way up to 13^th before taking his compulsory pit-stop on Lap 13. Despite struggling to battle his way through slower traffic, he still brought the Corse Motorsport Ford GT home in a creditable 11^th position.