Gray and Miedecke struggle at weather affected race at The Bend
Sunday, April 15, 2018
Having gloried at the first round of the Australian GT Championship earlier this month with three top step podiums as well as a third, it was back down to earth for the #67 Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 crew as they embarked on their first round of the Endurance Championship.
Racing at Australia's newest motor racing circuit at The Bend Motorsport Park near Adelaide, the driving crew would always be slightly on the back foot compared to their GT4 class opposition as the weather made a dramatic impact upon race proceedings.
Have had a full day of testing at the circuit on Thursday under what appeared to near 'normal' Australian weather, the first of Friday's Free Practice would descended into chaos as a sizeable rain storm deposited an extra-ordinary amount of rain upon the circuit forcing many to curtail they practice and setup plans. For the #67 crew that amounted to just two laps ahead of Saturday's Qualifying.
The two Qualifying sessions were also affected by weather - this time with strong warmer winds lifting the surrounding light soils to create dust storms that would lead to undriveable conditions forcing the race organisers to revise their race and timetable strategy.
Originally a two part race over both Saturday and Sunday, it was decided to race an increased race duration but over a shortened track variation as further strong winds were again being predicted.
Despite all of this, #67 crew Jeremy Gray and Andrew Miedecke still managed to qualify just behind their GT championship protagonists Justin McMillan and Glenn Wood in their KTM X-Bow but their lack of track time and familiarity (especially with the now revised track formation the led to a near 2.0km reduction in lap length) the #67 crew would finish the 2hr 40min race some ten seconds behind the X-Bow after a 5 second penalty (reason unknown) had been applied.
Photo credits - Australian GT
