Australian GT reveals 30-car AGP entry list

A 30-car field will take to Albert Park for Round 1 of the CAMS Australian GT Championship this weekend at the Australian Grand Prix.

Among the entry list is a three-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner, the 2005 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix winner, a Chevrolet Camaro, and four cars in the new GT4 class.

The winning combination from last November’s Australian Endurance Championship finale at the Highlands Motorsport Park will be represented with Tony D’Alberto again joining Max Twigg in a Mercedes-AMG GT3.

D’Alberto and Twigg also teamed up for February’s Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, along with Craig Baird, to finish 12th outright and sixth in the Class A Pro-Am class.

Baird is partnering Scott Taylor in another Mercedes-AMG, as he will do in the season’s three endurance races.

The Walkinshaw Racing-run Porsche 911 GT3-R will also take to the Melbourne streets in the hands of Liam Talbot and John Martin, who drove the car in last year’s Australian Endurance Championship but were in a Mark Griffith Mercedes-AMG for the most recent Bathurst 12 Hour.

As previously reported, three-time Le Mans winner Marcel Fassler joins defending Australian GT champion Geoff Emery in a Jamec Pem Audi, while three-time F1 race winner Giancarlo Fisichella will drive the Maranello Ferrari with Peter Edwards.

The 2017 Australian Endurance Championship-winning pair of Peter Hackett and now Super2 rookie Dominic Storey are sharing a Mercedes-AMG, and Tony Bates will make his racing return after a shunt at Townsville last July which required shoulder surgery.

The Championship and Trophy classes are comprised by 13 cars each, while four GT4-specification cars round out the entry list.

The quartet features an Aston Martin, a BMW, and a Ginetta, as well as Justin McMillan in the familiar KTM X-Bow.

All up, the field covers 11 manufacturers, including the Trophy class Chevrolet Camaro in the hands of Dale Paterson.

Australian GT will run the same four-race format as it did last year, with Pro drivers contesting Qualifying 1, Race 1, and Race 3, and a progressive grid for those sessions.

Am drivers will similarly tackle Qualifying 2, Race 2, and Race 4, while single drivers will tackle all six sessions throughout the weekend.

The two qualifying sessions and Race 1 will be held on the first day of the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix weekend this Thursday.

Entry list: Round 1, Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit