Most are expecting a two-stop, but no one quite knows what to expect heading into this afternoon’s three-hour national endurance championship race.
All eight GT3 cars (we’re calling the Renault R.S 01 a GT3 here) qualified within 1.5 seconds of each other.
But there is some nervousness up and down the paddock about how the race will unfold strategy-wise.
Talking with the drivers and teams, it’s clear no one quite has a set plan.
Most drivers anticipate a two-stop. Anthony Leighs, driving the No.28 Nissan GT-R with John McIntyre, expects to have to make a second splash of fuel at some point.
It means there will have to be some balance between how hard drivers push each stint and how often they back off.
In saying that, they are all race drivers at the end of the day.
“You only get one shot at it,” Leighs said.
Gene Rollinson is another driver predicting a minimum of two stops.
“Everyone will have to do two, I’d say.”
Greg Murphy will be the only Pro driver to start the race in the GT3 field. It’ll be intriguing to see how much of a gap he can establish, if he can establish, during the opening stint.
Leighs guesses Murphy will run away, leaving the profusion of Am drivers to scabble it out for early track position.
International Motorsport’s Andrew Waite is sharing an Audi R8 with Sam Fillmore. The pair start third, but Waite says the result won’t be determined until the final few laps, where differing strategies show their true colours.
Different teams are also using slightly different tyre compounds, which throws another spanner in the works. The full 4km Hampton Downs circuit can be brutal on the left-hand side if drivers don’t manage their rubber.
The championship race starts at 1.30 pm. Live TV coverage is found on Sky Sport 9.
Three-Hour starting grid:
- Helms/Murphy
- Foster/Reid
- Fillmore/Waite
- Gould/Rollinson
- Fawcet/Gaunt
- Hughes/van der Drift
- Leighs/McIntyre
- Pedersen/Pedersen
- Brooks/Riding
- Dovey/Dovey
- Slight/Harrison
- Coffin/Byers
- Sargeant/Gibson
- Cremer/Leifting
- Williams/McIntyre
- Pamenter/Brunton
- Davies/Mitchell