Rod Salmon has claimed an historic Australian GT win at the inaugural meeting at Highlands Motorsport Park in Central Otago, New Zealand.
Capturing the opening 40-minute race at the final round of the Australian GT Championship, Salmon who is sharing his Audi R8 LMS Ultra with Liam Talbot, recorded a back-to-the-wall victory.
The owner of the magnificent Highlands circuit and AGT custodian, Tony Quinn, claimed second alongside Fabian Coulthard in the Darrell Lea Aston Martin with Greg Murphy and Neil Crompton claiming third in the McLaren.
Craig Baird, sharing the Porsche GT3-R with soon-to-be-crowned double AGT champion Klark Quinn, had capitalised on pole position by dominating early however any advantage was neutralised by several safety car interventions.
Klark Quinn along with Coulthard then were hampered with deflating tyres late in the race, leaving Salmon to score a memorable break-through victory.
Quinn and Baird managed to finish fourth ahead of the Ferrari 458 of Peter Edwards and John Bowe.
The final race of the AGT Championship, another 40-minute encounter, is scheduled for tomorrow at 12.20pm local time.
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Race two is scheduled for 12:20pm tomorrow (NZDT), while the Highlands 101 event – covering 101 laps of the 4.1km circuit featuring a novel-style Le Mans start – is scheduled for 1.25pm on Sunday.
