Wild west action

The Australian GT Championship hotted up over the weekend with three fiercely contested races held as round two of the 2019 championship in Western Australia at Barbagallo Raceway. It showcased the talents of current champion, Geoff Emery and young gun, Ryan How, the former winning his first race of the 2019 season and the latter winning his first GT race ever and becoming the youngest driver even to do so.

At just 17 years of age, How drove his Audi R8 LMS, Trophy spec car to victory in the first race of the weekend, beating out Emery in a fiercely contested battle. How started from fourth on the grid and followed the seasoned campaigners through traffic to ultimately get the lead and hold it to the end. 

“It’s hard to describe what it feels like to win. I’m just so happy, I’m super stoked,” he told Speedcafe after the race.” 

“It was really good following Geoff Emery and Peter Hackett, seeing different lines and how they actually race, which was a really good experience – I was just doing my best to keep up with them.”

In the second race, the two Audis were again on the podium, this time with the order reversed as Emery took his current specification Audi R8 LMS to second behind Peter Major’s Lamborghini, with How hot on his heels in third.

The final race of the weekend again became a battle of the two Audis, but ultimately ended with Emery consolidating his weekend with his first win of the 2019 season and clinching the overall round win.

How was unlucky in the final race having once again shown his style and considerable speed, but losing his lead on the second last lap, when a mechanical failure saw him hit the tyre wall. Emery was waiting to pounce and finished the race in first with a sizeable lead over the second place getter, Max Twigg.

The result in the second round of the Australian GT Championship sees Emery move up from fourth place to second overall, while in the Trophy classification (for older GT models), the young Ryan How shoots out to a 37 point lead in the championship.

Round three of the GT Championship will see the teams head back across the country to Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit on the 8th of June.