AUSTRALIAN GT has new ownership for the second time since the category – in its current state – was founded in 2005.

Australian Pirelli importer Trofeo Motorsport has confirmed that they have purchased the category management rights from Tony Quinn, in a move that will see the company take over the Australian GT Championship, CAMS Australian Endurance Championship and Australian GT Trophy Series.

The big question now is – what does it mean for the future of GT racing in Australia? What are some of the questions that will be raised?

The Race Torque takes a look.

NEW ownership can often create worries behind the scenes, but that shouldn’t be the case here.

In Trofeo, Australian GT not only has a cashed-up new owner, but one who understands the sport at many levels.

For starters, the company is ‘one of their own’ – a competitor that is already invested in Australian GT and a business that benefits from having a healthy championship.

As a vendor and commercial entity selling tyres, apparel and even cars, they understand the commercial side of motorsport and how that world operates.

Having said that, as competitors spending money with those same vendors they have empathy with their fellow teams for the efforts and costs involved in turning up and going racing each weekend.

Hopefully this helps create a good working relationship between the teams and category ownership, which has often been a talking point in the past.

After a challenging few years behind the scenes, that should be a relief to those with significant investments in very expensive GT machinery sitting in their workshops.

Keeping the experienced Ken & Margaret Collier on board to run the ship is also a smart decision and will add to a feeling of continuity.

IT will be interesting to watch the relationship between Australian GT and Supercars.

It’s well reported that Supercars tried to buy Australian GT from Tony Quinn last year, though ultimately it was blocked by CAMS.

However the new ownership should please Supercars because, via the Bathurst 12 Hour, Trofeo and Supercars have a close relationship.

Pirelli is a major sponsor of the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour as well as being the official control tyre.

So not only do they invest in the sport by sponsoring the Top-10 Shootout and other aspects of Australia’s International Enduro, but they sell 2400 P-Zero slicks to competitors in the process. Talk about engineering a win-win deal for both parties!

How their existing relationship with Supercars influences the 2019 calendar moving forward will be a big talking point in the paddock.

WHAT about SRO?

The business that has basically been behind the GT3 category since day one doesn’t have a large footprint in Australia – yet.

SRO has a relationship with the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, which doubles as the opening round of their Intercontinental GT Challenge.

The event uses the SRO’s BoP regulations and broadly the same driver categorisation and class structure as well.

Australian GT has traditionally done their own thing in these areas, but it will be interesting to see if the relationship changes.

Pirelli are deeply involved with SRO and are the control tyre supplier to a majority of GT3 series’ globally now.

SRO also recently took a controlling interest in the US-based Pirelli World Challenge series; essentially that countries top GT3 category.

They have also hit success with Blancpain GT Asia of late so whether this means closer ties to Australia as well will be worth watching.

CAN they build the commercial base within the category?

Outside of Supercars, GT racing is probably one of the few categories in Australia – along with Super 2 and Carrera Cup – where real sponsors are tipping real sponsorship money into the teams.

Think Valvoline on the Jamec-Pem Racing Audi’s at the 12-Hour or WM Waste on Max Twigg’s AMG GT3 in the GT Championship this year.

The cars are cool and the regular appearances from big name drivers like Garth Tander, Shane van Gisbergen and more mean it’s attractive to sponsors.

While GT3 racing will forever likely remain the domain of the wealthy owner-driver competitor, there is potential to grow the series’ commercial base and attract sponsorship to help fund it all.

THERE will likely be some change.

With new ownership comes new ideas and an opportunity to put their own stamp on things.

So changes to the calendar and race formats are likely to be the first thing Trofeo look at for next year.

Pinning down the 2019 calendar will be important. After a 2017 season that was basically too much of a good thing, moves this year to combine the Sprint, Endurance and Trophy elements into a more cohesive calendar have been highly successful and grid numbers are up.

As far as regulations go, from our point of view a full-shift to the established Blancpain GT Series regulations would be a useful start.

Australian GT’s current system of multiple levels of driver seeding and using pit stop time as a form of BoP is hugely confusing and even the best, most articulate broadcasters struggle to explain the system coherently.

The 12-Hour and Blancpain Series system of Pro, Pro/Am and Am classes makes more sense and is much easier to explain to fans watching at the circuit and on TV.

Rather than re-inventing the wheel, using an existing system that is proven to work well would help align Australian GT with the 12-hour and other domestic and international GT3-based series’ around the world.

WHAT about Lamborghini?

As well as Pirelli, Freem Race Wear and a host of other brands, Trofeo Motorsport are also the official Australian importer of Lamborghini’s Huracan GT3.

While the latest Lambo has been successful in Europe it’s yet to taste real success here – though that could change.

What better way to support your own championship by upping the ante’ with a larger Lamborghini presence?

Tony Quinn did it by running several of his own fleet and often putting gun drivers in them to add spice to the grid.

Wouldn’t it be great to see Trofeo leverage their Lamborghini involvement to create a local Squadra Corse team with some gun drivers or works imports?

Finally, it’s worth saying thanks to Tony Quinn.

He stepped in at the right time for GT Racing in Australia and has worked very hard to grow the sport here.

Introducing major events like the Phillip Island 101 and the end-of-year Highlands shindig have been fantastic.

There’s no doubt that without his influence in the last seven years GT racing wouldn’t be close to being where it is now.

We say well done to TQ – and we know he’ll enjoy going back to just being a simple competitor.. rather the man everyone comes to complain to!

WORDS: TheRaceTorque.com staff
IMAGE: Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour / Mark Horsburgh.