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Persistent overheating issues with their McLaren made for a ‘nightmare’ Australian Endurance Championship decider for eventual title winners Grant Denyer and Nathan Morcom.
Entering the race with a commanding points lead, the Denyer/Morcom Tekno Autosports combination secured the championship with an eighth place finish.
It was anything but straight forward, however, as the McLaren was stifled by cooling issues throughout the entire Highlands weekend.
The team tried in vain to fix the issue, which is believed to have stemmed from Morcom’s hit on the Maranello Ferrari in the closing stages of the Hampton Downs 101 two weeks ago.
Tekno mechanics remained at the circuit until the early hours of this morning replacing the cooling system ahead of the title decider.
Confident the problem had been resolved, Tekno elected against swapping Morcom and Denyer into one of its other cars – a move it soon regretted.
Denyer, a popular television presenter and part-time racing driver, described the way the race unfolded as a nightmare.
“From lap five it was in limp mode so it was our worst nightmare come true,” Denyer told Speedcafe.com.
“We were about two or three seconds a lap off the pace, we were a shot duck and just had to survive.
“It didn’t even have enough grunt to get to fifth or sixth gears. It was really wounded.
“We drove the wheels off it in the corners to try and minimise the time loss.
“I drove my arse off in my stints and then had to hope Nathan could bring it home.
“It was using a heap of fuel so we thought it was going to run out at the end.
“You couldn’t have scripted a worst day for us, except for the part where we won.
“It was the most stressful day of my life, but I couldn’t be happier.
“I haven’t won an Australian championship since I was in go-karts.
“I wanted it so badly.”
Team owner Jonathon Webb was also relieved after Morcom, driving the #60 McLaren, had narrowly lost the Australian GT Championship title yesterday.
The cooling dramas with the #59 entry were unable to be resolved despite the presence of McLaren GT director Andrew Kirkaldy and an engineer dispatched from headquarters in the UK.
“Since the damage at Hampton something wasn’t quite right,” Webb confirmed.
“The boys were to-ing and fro-ing with the factory all night to try and sort it out.
“We’d considered putting them in another car but we took the gamble thinking we had it fixed.
“Unfortunately we didn’t but as soon as we committed to qualifying we had to stick with it.
“Thankfully with the points we had the boys just had to keep going around to win it.
“It was stressful for all of us, but thankfully it worked out.”
Tekno’s AEC title comes in a season where it also tasted victory in both the Bathurst 12 Hour and Bathurst 1000.
The team expanded into GT this year, running three McLarens alongside its single-car Supercars effort.
“To be honest with the way the year has flowed I haven’t really sat down to enjoy any of them,” said Webb of his team’s victories.
“I’m looking forward to getting through Homebush and sitting by the pool over Christmas and really soaking it in.
“There’s no doubt that we’ve been able to achieve some pretty cool things.”
