John Bowe Joins Australian GT Championship At Clipsal 500 Adelaide
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Feb 16, 2007
Legendary driver John Bowe is to join the 2007 Australian GT Championship at the 2007 Clipsal 500 Adelaide to be held from March 1-4. He will be behind the wheel of a Coopers Racing Ferrari 360GT in a welcome return to sports car racing that will make the Clipsal 500 round of the Australian GT Championship the most hotly contested ever with a record 32 car strong grid. In a positive link with South Australia, the Mark Coffey owned Ferrari to be driven by Bowe will be sponsored by Adelaide brewer Coopers.
Speaking today for the first time about his GT drive in Adelaide John Bowe said:
“I love the GT Championship category. It’s great with all the different cars like the Dodge Vipers, Lamborghini and Porsche models as well as the Ferrari marque. I would certainly like to do more in the category in the future and we will see how we go in Adelaide. The Mark Coffey Coopers Racing Ferrari that I will be driving is a 360GT that has come in from the USA. It’s a lovely car that is in great condition but it is not as highly developed as the 360GT that Allan (Simonsen) is driving. I’m not saying I can beat Simonsen and David Wall in the Porsche GT3 RSR will also be hard to beat. I probably won’t get a chance to drive the car before Adelaide so I am putting my toe in the water, but I never go into a race without being optimisticâ€.
Bowe will literally be ‘flat-out’ around the tough Adelaide street circuit with driving duties also in the Paul Cruickshank Glenfords Tool Centres Falcon Supercar in the Clipsal 500 (Round one of the 2007 V8 Supercar Championship Series), but isn’t daunted by the task. “I am pretty fit, although I guess I will be looking for a Coopers after its all overâ€, he said. Bowe, who has announced that this is to be his last fulltime season in the V8 Championship, is unique in Australian Motorsport being the only driver to have won the Australian Touring Car Championship, the Australian Drivers Championship and the Australian Sports Car Championship. He will also set another motor sport record in Adelaide when he equals Peter Brock’s number (212) of starts in the Touring Car/V8 Championship when he lines up on the grid for the Clipsal 500.
Bowe is no stranger to the Ferrari marque, or indeed racing the Italian thoroughbreds on the Adelaide circuit. In 2002 he qualified a Ferrari Michelotto on pole in the record time of 1:26.6288 and came second in the first Nations Cup race that year to the Lamborghini of Paul Stokell setting a new race record of 1:25.7930. Bowe won the second race and was second in the third race. In 2003 at the wheel of a PHR Scuderia Ferrari 360GT he gained pole position and won the first two races including the 30 lap semi-endurance event that went into the evening. He came 4th in race 3 that year.
Australian GT Championship Round 2 (Clipsal 500 Adelaide) schedule
Thursday March 1
12.20 – 12.40 Practice 1
17.15 – 17.30 Practice 2
Friday March 2
13.35 – 13.55 Qualifying
Saturday March 3
10.50 – 11.10 Race 1 (12 laps)
17.30 – 17.50 Race 2 (12 laps)
Sunday March 4
11.00 – 11.20 Race 3 (12 laps)
2007 Australian GT Championship Points Standing (After 1 of 8 rounds)
1. Allan Simonsen (Ferrari 360 GT) 117 pts
2. Bryce Washington (Porsche GT3 Cup Car) 88 pts
3. Bill Pye (Porsche GT3 Cup Car) 69 pts
4. David Wall (Porsche GT3 RSR) 64 pts
5. Damien Flack (Porsche GT3 Cup Car) 61 pts
