Australian GT locks in season-opener

Organisers of the Australian GT Championship have confirmed details for its season-opener.

Round 1 of the season will take place at the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships’ Sydney Motorsport Park meeting on August 15-16.

The remainder of what is expected to be a five-round calendar is still to be announced.

The SMP programme will comprise a pair of 60-minute races, with two 10-minute qualifying sessions to set the grid for Race 1.

There will also be two 20-minute practice sessions at the circuit formerly known as Eastern Creek International Raceway.

“For the last fortnight the calendar has seen many iterations, and whilst we are close to revealing the full 2020 Australian GT Championship program, we are awaiting final approval from the various stakeholders before we can reveal that,” said Australian GT category rights holder Jim Manolios.

“That said, we have locked in the season opener which is important to allow teams to schedule a return to racing, so we wanted to at least release that news as soon as we could.”

Category Administrator Kate Harrington added, “We’re excited to finally be able to reveal what has been the result of many weeks of discussion.

“The teams are all eager to get back on track and I’ve been receiving a steady barrage of calls – the response has been very positive.

“We’re excited by what the remainder of the season promises, and looking forward to revealing that very soon.”

The Australian GT Trophy Series had already begun for 2020 with two standalone rounds held thus far, but all classes (GT3, GT4, Trophy Series, Trofeo Challenge, Invitational) will feature on the one grid for the remainder of the year.

There is hope from Motorsport Australia that they will be able to welcome crowds at Sydney Motorsport Park when the event comes around in August.