After a standout release at the season-opening Liqui Moly Bathurst 12-Hour, the infamous Interlloy/Wilson Storage KTM X-Bow GT4 made a resume the circuit a week ago for the opening circular of the CAMS Aussie GT Trophy Sequence at Melbourne’s Sandown Park, using M-Motorsport team-boss Justin McMillan joined by part-time model driver and ex – GT Trophy category champion Dean Koutsoumidis.
With GT4 still surfacing in Australia as a lower-cost class of supercar competition, a projected battle between marques for instance Aston Martin, Ginetta and Porsche did not materialise for the opening occurrence, but future fits are expected to see this stunning #48 KTM faced with quite a few stiff competition, hence Sandown gave the experienced GT operation a chance to obtain some more valuable understanding and data for the motor vehicle.
“We showed at Bathurst exactly how impressive the KTM will be after claiming this GT4 lap-record and leading by three laps in advance of a final hour excitement with electrics,” McMillan reflected. “The car was primarily flawless and in GT4-spec, i was effectively untouchable, and we were relishing the opportunity go head-to-head with the different marques, but sometimes with the arrival of a new concept like GT4 it takes a little time to get the field together, nevertheless we’re expecting by the end of the season to be struggling door-to-door with a number of different GT4 cars.”
With the bulk of the sector either older generation GT3 cars, or V8-powered Australian MARC automobiles, the KTM was out-gunned within the performance stakes on the circuit which is well known for rewarding horsepower, but that didn’t steer clear of the M-Motorsport team from moving the car – and it’s only two drivers – to the limitations in what were normally challenging Melbourne the fall conditions.
“The beauty of utilizing Sandown as an effective test time for the car was that we faced conditions we’d not influenced in before, understanding that gave us a lot of data to add to that many of us received from Reiter Engineering after we took delivery of the vehicle – it was invaluable” McMillan added.
“We certified well, although clearly not in the group of the much faster GT3 cars and trucks, then Dean and I had two terrific events where we encountered some pretty challenging conditions. I was delighted with the performance with the car, although it had been a bit of a handful during the wet in kind one, but from what we learnt through that, we travelled three seconds more rapidly in race 2. From my point of view I was very happy, Dean is undoubtedly an experienced GT campaigner, plus he’s also driven prototypes [sportscars] a lot, and I was able to match his swiftness, so personally My partner and i felt we had an outstanding weekend.
For former Australian GT Trophy winner Koutsoumidis, a recent test for Winton Motor Raceway gave the seasoned Victorian a taste for the infamous 2-litre turbo KTM, and he said that after a couple of years away from the GT saddle, the guy thoroughly enjoyed their experience in the Reiter Engineering-built machine.
“Being the only GT4 car weren’t a big issue given that it gave us a chance to learn more about the car,” Koutsoumidis admitted. “Having both free of moisture and wet situations was a great ability as we progressed a lot with set up awareness. M-Motorsport is a delight to operate a vehicle for, I really loved the car and the squad and I can’t hang on to do it again!
The subsequent event for the 2017 Cameras Australian GT Award Series is at Winton Generator raceway in regional Victoria regarding 9-11 June.
