Australian GT: AGT Championship podium beckons for Koutsoumidis‏

Equity-One Motorsport Press Release

Championship podium beckons for Koutsoumidis

Equity-One Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3
Rnd#6 2013 Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli
Highlands Motorsport Park, Cromwell, NZ (8-10 November)

This weekend the Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli regulars will make their first visit to the brand new Highlands Motorsport Park circuit in New Zealand for the final round of the 2013 season.

For Equity-One’s Dean Koutsoumidis, the event provides an opportunity to enjoy some of the finest things that the South Island of New Zealand has to offer, but at the same time, it’s the business end of the season and the reigning Trophy Class champion has the outright podium within reach.

“I had a great run at Queensland Raceway and emerged from the round third in the points,” he laughed. “I wasn’t expecting that, especially considering the tough competition we’ve had this year, but it was my best round to date in the Audi, so I was very happy.

“Sadly that adds more intensity this weekend, with my Melbourne Performance Centre team-mate Rod Salmon and the Ferrari pairing of Peter Edwards and John Bowe piling on the pressure on, but I’ll have Andrew [McInnes] back in the car again, and that will fire me up.”

Recently the duo went head-to-head in an historic Formula Ford event at Phillip Island, where Koutsoumidis showed just how competitive he’d become over recent months by shadowing the more experienced McInnes throughout the weekend.

“And by shadow, I mean shadow.. in the end our best times were only a tenth of a second apart, and with the slower qualifying driver responsible for the meal tab on Friday night, I think it’s well and truly Andrew’s turn to pay!”

The Equity-One team too have something more to celebrate during the Highlands Park weekend, and that’s the addition of new sponsor Biowrap.

“Biowrap is an environmentally friendly plastic wrap for newspapers and magazines which dissolves after 12 months in oxygen or water,” D&D Mailing Services David Sykes explained.

“We wanted to lift our profile a little amongst our customers and generally get people to understand that the product exists, and what better way to do that than jump on board a high profile car at a high profile event like the Australian GT Championship final.

“We wish Dean and Andrew all the best and hope they can manage to bring home a championship podium.”

“We’ll be doing our best,” Koutsoumidis said. “I’ve not done the simulator miles that people like Rod Salmon and Liam Talbot have, but I’ve been asked by Minda Motorsport’s Bruin Beasley to join him in a Renault for the South Island Endurance Series round on the same weekend at Highlands. They have a three hour race on Saturday, so I’ll drive with him and get more time learning the circuit. I’m no good at these video games anyway, I always figure seat time is best, so that’s what I’ll focus on.”

In order to get the full New Zealand experience, the Highlands Park organisers have arranged to provide a number of the Australian drivers with a South Island experience; rafting, jetboating, bungee jumping..

“Will I need to call my therapist?” Koutsoumidis asked with more than a little concern in his voice.. “Look, this event is really going to be an event of a lifetime, and Tony [Quinn] and his team are doing everything they cam to make it an experience for the drivers and for the fans. I honestly think based on the hype around the event at the moment that it could become one of the pre-eminent events on the international calendar in the not too distant future, and I’m honoured that we had the chance to be at the very first race.”

SCHEDULE (NZDT)

Friday, 8 November
Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli
Practice #1 - 9:30am (20-minutes)
Practice #2 - 11:35am (30-minutes)
Qualifying - 2:00pm (40-minutes)
Race #1 - 3:45pm (40-minutes)

Saturday, 9 November
Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli
Warm-up - 9:25am (20-minutes)
Race #2 - 12:20pm (40-minutes)

Sunday, 10 November
Highlands 101 (Qualifying) - 9:25am (40-minutes)
Highlands 101 (Race) - 1:25pm (101-laps)

2013 Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli
GT Championship points (after five rounds of six)
1. Klark Quinn (540 points), 2. Tony Quinn (423), 3. Dean Koutsoumidis (276), 4. John Bowe (272), 5. Rod Salmon (262), 6. Greg Murphy (245), 6. Roger Lago (234), 7. Jack Le Brocq (220), 8. Justin McMillan (195), 9. Peter Edwards (190), 10. Andrew McInnes (154)

Keep track of the Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli via the AGT website - www.australiangt.com.au and via Facebook; AustralianGT or via Twitter;

www.twitter.com/AustralianGT

2013 Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli - calendar
Rnd#1, 8-10 February - Bathurst 12-Hour, NSW
Rnd#2, 28 Feb - 3 March - Clipsal, Adelaide, SA
Rnd#3, 24-26 May - Phillip Island, Victoria
Rnd#4, 12-14 July - Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW
Rnd#5, 2-4 August - Queensland Raceway, Ipswich, QLD
Rnd#6, 8-10 November - Highland Motorsport Park, NZ

About Biowrap

After years of wrapping their magazines, catalogues, annual reports and newsletters using plastic wrap, many organisations such as National Australia Bank have joined forces with D&D Mailing Services to preserve the environment by going degradable.

Biowrap is a environmentally friendly plastic wrap and unlike recycled paper and plastic, biowrap is  degradable plastic wrapping which makes biowrap great for the environment and our future generation.

Biowrap is an environmentally friendly plastic wrap and unlike recycled paper and plastic, biowrap is 100% degradable plastic wrapping which makes biowrap great for the environment and our future generation.

www.biowrap.com.au

Equity-One Motorsport is proudly supported by Equity-One Mortgage Fund, Biowrap.com.au and Melbourne Performance Centre.

www.equity-one-motorsport.com
www.facebook.com/EquityOneMotorsport

Photo credit: Melbourne Performance Centre