Two Gallardo now in thick of the action
A significantly larger field arrived at the second round of the Australian
GT Championship in Adelaide for the Clipsal 500. Although Ross Lilley
was the Gallardo camp’s lone fighter in Eastern Creek, he received
support this time from debutant Mark Eddy, who had acquired the car of
Bryce Washington. In qualifying the two matadors positioned themselves
at the front of the field in 4th place (Lilley) and 6th place (Eddy).
In the first race over 11 laps Eddy showed that he is a quick learner. In
front of 82,200 spectators on early Saturday morning the Australian
finished fourth closely followed by brand team mate Ross Lilley.
However, there was little time to relax between races as the second race
of the weekend followed in the afternoon. Eddy and Lilley repeated their
solid performances from the morning and finished in the same order in
fourth and fifth positions respectively.
On Sunday the event organisers counted 91,700 motorsport fans filling
the grandstands. A 12 lap sprint at 9:25 a.m. local time was on the
Australian GT Championship agenda. The huge numbers of spectators
would not be disappointed. Mark Eddy was able to improve on his
excellent results harvested on his debut weekend and claimed the first
podium finish in 2008 for Lamborghini in Australia. Ross Lilley held
station behind and took the chequered flag in fourth position.
After two events and six races Ross Lilley now holds second place
overall in the championship behind 2007 title holder Alan Simonsen in a
Ferrari. Mark Eddy enters the series in sixth place.
The current standings:
1st Allan Simonsen Ferrari 430 GT3 240 points
2nd Ross Lilley Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 144 points
3rd Scott Bargwann Lotus Elise 96 points
4th Craig Baird Ferrari 360 GT 92 points
5th John Kaias Aston Martin DBRS9 88 points
6th Mark Eddy Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 81 points
7th Peter Lucas Lotus Elise 69 points