Audi Claims 1-2 in Race 3 in Melbourne

Audi drivers Christopher Mies and Geoff Emery have won the second round of the CAMS Australian GT Championship at Albert Park.

A consistent weekend from the JAMEC PEM pair saw them take out the round after claiming pole position during qualifying on Thursday.

Emery ended the final race of the weekend in second place behind his Melbourne Performance Centre Audi R8 LMS of James Koundouris.

It was a 1-2 result for the Melbourne Performance Centre as Koundouris and team-mate Marcus Marshall finished second for the weekend, with the TEKNO Autosport McLaren of Nathan Morcom third.

The final race of the weekend proved a tale of two halves, with Matt Solomon opening a hefty advantage before the safety car emerged following an incident between Peter Rullo’s Lamborghini Gallardo and Andrew Macpherson’s AMAC Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3-R.

Solomon’s lead evaporated under the safety car, which remained on track for the remainder of the race.

With compulsory pitstop times then added, it was Koundouris who claimed the race win ahead of Emery and the Objective Racing McLaren of Tony Walls in third place.

Having started on the front row, Steve McLaughlan in the second JAMEC PEM Audi fell to 16th at the finish, but did enough to win the Gold Driver Cup for the round.

For McLaughlan, it was the perfect way to introduce his brand-new car.

“We should have run this car in Adelaide; it would have been faster,” he joked after the race.

“I’m still getting used to the new car,” he added. “We’ll try and do a test day before Barbagallo and hopefully go a bit quicker again.”

The third round of the CAMS Australian GT Championship will see the category make its first ever visit to Barbagallo on May 6-8.