James Koundouris has had his best ever Vodka O Australian GT result with two race wins at the fast Phillip Island circuit in round 4 of the Championship.

‘It was a great day and a great feeling to have my first GT win and then to follow it up with victory in the second race also after a huge battle with Max Twigg. The Superbarn Supermarkets Porsche was fantastic and the two victories are a great result for the entire team’, the Canberra based Koundouris said as he stepped from the top of the podium.

With both races being 60 minute ‘enduro’ events it was David Wall (Porsche Cup S) that led the way off the perfectly formed rolling start in race 1 by virtue of him topping the times in qualifying with a lap of 1:32.2143.

However Wall fell victim to an early visit to pit lane before the compulsory pit stop (CPS) that can’t be taken in the first 20 minutes of the race.

Wall’s problem was reported as a loose rear hub, and the driver lost time in that stop and them further valuable time for his scheduled CPS. Eventually Wall finished in 16th position.

In the end it was a battle between Vodka O team members Dean Grant (Molser MT900) and Peter Hackett (Lamborghini Gallardo GT3) for the minor podium places with Grant taking second in the race that ran over 37 laps for the leaders without the intervention of a safety car.

Fastest lap of the race went to Koundouris with a time of 1:34.3742.

Max Twigg (Porsche Cup S) was fourth in the outright GT division followed by Greg Crick (Dodge Viper GT3), Peter Hill (Lamborghini Gallardo), Ross Lilley (Dodge Viper GT3), and Mark Cini (Porsche Cup S) in 8th spot.

Having his first start in the GT Championship, Ivan Klasen drove his Porsche Cup Car to victory in the Challenge division ahead of the Damien and Adrian Flack (Porsche Cup Car) entry, and Michael Loccisano (Porsche Cup Car) in third spot.

Tony Alford (Nissan GTR R35) took the GT Production win from Mark O’Connor (Lotus Exige S) who only completed 13 laps before pulling off the circuit just past MG corner with broken front suspension.

Simon Middleton (Lamborghini Gallardo), Ash Samardi (Mosler MT900), Mark Seamons (Lamborghini Gallardo), and Kevin Weeks (Lamborghini Gallardo) were also classified as non finishers while the Ross Lilley Viper despite crossing the line in seventh spot was showing signs of an engine problem that prevented the car from starting the second race.

Race 2
It was James Koundouris that set the pace for the second rolling start of the day and the Superbarn Supermarkets Porsche Cup S pulled a slight gap at the start from Dean Grant (Mosler MT900) and Peter Hackett (Lamborghini Gallardo) but the first of two safety car periods soon nullified that advantage.

Wall had stormed up from 16th spot on the grid and was running in the top ten before the compulsory pit stop.

At the front, Koundouris was stamping his authority on the event setting the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1:33.9616, but any advantage he was enjoying was again reduced by another safety car intervention when the Keith Wong/Kevin Wong Porsche stopped on the circuit with gearbox issues just past Honda corner after 24 laps.

Koundouris and the leading pack which included Max Twigg (Porsche Cup S), Dean Grant (Mosler MT900), and Peter Hackett (Lamborghini Gallardo) were also encountering traffic as the laps wound down and with only one more circulation to go, Twigg looked menacingly close to passing Koundouris through the ultra fast turn 1.

The cars didn’t touch and it then appeared that Twigg decided to settle for a fine second place behind the dominant Koundouris. Dean Grant’s third place was also another impressive performance from the Melbourne driver.

Crossing the line in the event that covered 34 laps with two safety periods in fourth place was Peter Hackett (Lamborghini Gallardo), followed by David Wall (Porsche Cup S), Ian Palmer (Dodge Viper) and Simon Middleton (Lamborghini Gallardo).

In GT Challenge it was Shane Smollen (Porsche Cup Car) that came out with the win followed by the Cup Cars of Michael Loccisano and the consistent Eric Bana.

Tony Alford (Nissan GTR R35) took the points in GT Production while Peter Hill (Lamborghini Gallardo), Ivan Klasen (Porsche Cup Car), and Marc Cini (Porsche Cup) joined the Wong entry as non finishers.

Round points for the Philip Island event were distributed as follows:

GT: 1 James Koundouris, 2 Dean Grant, 3 Max Twigg
GT Challenge: 1 Shane Smollen, 2 Michael Loccisano, 3 Flack/Flack
GT Production: 1 Tony Alford