ADRAD Racing and their South Australian driver Bryce Washington will debut at brand-new Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 in the second round of the 2007 Australian GT Championship, at the Clipsal 500 on March 1 - 4.
After two years of campaigning Porsche GT3s in the local GT Championship – that included a win in the 2005 series and multiple Porsche Drivers Challenge titles – Bryce will step into the Reiter Engineering constructed Gallardo for the first time at his home event.
The Gallardo, often known as the ‘baby Lambo’, packs a 500hp punch from a 5-litre (mid mounted) V10 engine with the power being delivered to all four wheels via a six-speed, paddle shift sequential gearbox.
The car has already proven successful in the European GT3 Championship – racing against powerhouses such as Porsche, Ferrari and Dodge – and will give Bryce the added ammunition needed to try and regain the Australian GT title he won in 2005.
It is expected to be the Australian racing debut for the car after Washington’s car was air freighted in from Germany last week, leaving the ADRAD Racing team just a few days to prepare the car for the rigours of street racing.
Bryce finished on the podium in the first round for 2007 held at Eastern Creek Raceway recently, driving his Porsche, and will look to go one better at Clipsal with a debut win in the new Lamborghini.
The Clipsal field will be one of the strongest GT fields in Australia seen to date, with Allan Simonsen in a Ferrari 360GT, Greg Crick in a Dodge Viper, David Wall in a Porsche RSR, Peter Hackett in a Lamborghini and Washington’s new Gallardo all expected to be contending for race wins.
Washington, 22, will also debut new sponsorship support from Natrad Radiators at the Clipsal 500 event.
“It’s exciting to be able to debut our new car at the Clipsal 500, †Washington said today.
“With the Porsche we lacked the horsepower of the Dodge, the Lamborghini and the Ferrari, but with our new Gallardo GT3 I’m confident that we will have the package we need to take us back to the front in the championship we won two years ago.
“It is an amazing looking car. If it goes as quick as it looks it’ll be brilliant! †He said.
Despite the appeal of the new car, Washington said that it would still be a demanding debut event for the new machinery.
“It will be a tough weekend at the Clipsal event, †he cautioned.
“The car has only just arrived in Australia so it’s not going to give us much time to get a handle on it and how to set it up.
“Clipsal will be a pretty steep learning curve as we try to learn the car and develop it to how we’d like it to perform. â€
Washington will again be doing double duties in 2007, recently agreeing to drive for the championship winning Paul Cruickshank Racing Carrera Cup outfit, in his ADRAD Radiators Porsche GT3 Cup Car.
This will mean that the local ace from Adelaide’s Eastern Suburbs will have dual chances at success come next weekend.
“Clipsal is the event you want to perform well at, so to have two chances at it will be excellent, †Washington enthused.
“The PCR Carrera Cup team is fantastic and I’m confident that we’ll have a good run in that series. The new car for the GT Championship will also be a bonus and really give us two chances at success.
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