2018 Australian GT Championship

The 2018 Australian GT Championship was the 22nd running of the Australian GT Championship, a CAMS-sanctioned Australian motor racing championship open to FIA GT3 cars and similar cars as approved for the championship. The championship commenced on 23 March 2018 at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit and concluded on 14 October at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park. The 2018 Australian Endurance Championship was contested concurrently with Rounds 2, 4 and 6 of the GT Championship.^[1] It was the 15th Australian Endurance Championship.

The Australian GT Championship was won by Geoff Emery^[2] driving an Audi R8 LMS and the Australian Endurance Championship by Max Twigg and Tony D'Alberto^[3] who shared a Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Race calendar

The Australian GT Championship was contested over six rounds and the Australian Endurance Championship over three rounds. Each race, with the exception of the Australian Grand Prix round of the Australian GT Championship, included at least one compulsory timed pit stop.^[4]

Australian GT Championship

Round	Circuit	Location	Race format	Date
1	Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit	Melbourne, Victoria	4 x 25 min	23–25 March
2	The Bend Motorsport Park	Tailem Bend, South Australia	1 x 86 laps	14–15 April
3	Sandown Raceway	Melbourne, Victoria	3 x 40 min	12–13 May
4	Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit	Phillip Island, Victoria	1 x 101 laps	2–3 June
5	Sydney Motorsport Park	Eastern Creek, New South Wales	3 x 40 min	4–5 August
6	Hampton Downs Motorsport Park	Waikato, New Zealand	1 x 101 laps	13–14 October

Australian Endurance Championship

Round	Circuit	Location	Race format	Date
1	The Bend Motorsport Park	Tailem Bend, South Australia	1 x 86 laps	14–15 April
2	Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit	Phillip Island, Victoria	1 x 101 laps	2–3 June
3	Hampton Downs Motorsport Park	Waikato, New Zealand	1 x 101 laps	13–14 October

Australian GT Championship

Teams and drivers

Team	Vehicle	No.	Drivers	Events
JAMEC PEM Racing	Audi R8 LMS	1	Geoff Emery	1-5
			Marcel Fassler	1
			Garth Tander	2, 4
Ah Apartments	Audi R8 LMS	3	Ash Samadi	1–2, 4
Ah Apartments	Audi R8 LMS	3	Dylan O'Keeffe	2, 4
Wall Racing	Lamborghini Huracán GT3	6	Adrian Deitz	2, 4-5
Wall Racing	Lamborghini Huracán GT3	6	Cameron McConville	2, 4-5
Darrell Lea/Keltic Racing	McLaren 650S GT3	7	Tony Quinn	1-5
			Shane van Gisbergen	2
			Grant Denyer	4
Scott Taylor Motorsport	Mercedes-AMG GT3	8	Max Twigg	1–2, 4
		8	Tony D'Alberto	1–2, 4
		222	Scott Taylor	1-5
		222	Craig Baird	1–2, 4
Hallmarc Constructions	Audi R8 LMS	9	Marc Cini	3
International Motorsport	Audi R8 LMS	10	Andrew Fawcett	4
International Motorsport	Audi R8 LMS	10	Jonny Reid	4
Objective Racing	McLaren 650S GT3	11	Tony Walls	2, 4
Objective Racing	McLaren 650S GT3	11	Warren Luff	2, 4
Erebus Motorsport Griffith Corporation/ Aussie Driver Search	Mercedes-AMG GT3	19	Mark Griffith	3, 5
		98	Jaie Robson	1-3
		98	David Reynolds	2
KFC Racing	Audi R8 LMS	24	Tony Bates	1-5
KFC Racing	Audi R8 LMS	24	Daniel Gaunt	1–2, 4
Trofeo Motorsport	Lamborghini Huracán GT3	29	Jim Manolios	1–3, 5
Trofeo Motorsport	Lamborghini Huracán GT3	29	Dean Canto	1-2
M Motorsport	Lamborghini Gallardo R-EX	49	Dean Koutsoumidis	3, 5
			Glen Wood	3
			Justin McMillan	5
McElrea Racing	McLaren 650S GT3	58	Duvashen Padayachee	4
		58	Shane van Gisbergen	4
		59	Fraser Ross	1-5
			Duvashen Padayachee	2
			Jaxon Evans	4
Eggleston Motorsport	Mercedes-AMG GT3	63	Peter Hackett	1-5
			Dominic Storey	1
			Jake Fouracre	2, 4
		777	Yasser Shahin	2, 4-5
		777	Luke Youlden	2, 4
Maranello Motorsport	Ferrari 488 GT3	88	Peter Edwards	1
Maranello Motorsport	Ferrari 488 GT3	88	Giancarlo Fisichella	1
Miedecke Motorsport	Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3	95	Andrew Miedecke	5
Miedecke Motorsport	Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3	95	George Miedecke	5
Hobson Motorsport	Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3	96	Brett Hobson	5
BMW Team SRM	BMW M6 GT3	100	Steven Richards	1-5
			Dean Grant	1
			Michael Almond	2, 4
			Ricky Capo	3, 5
Walkinshaw Racing	Porsche 911 GT3-R	911	Liam Talbot	1-5
Walkinshaw Racing	Porsche 911 GT3-R	911	John Martin	1–2, 4

Race results

Round		Circuit	Pole position	Race winner(s)
1	R1	Albert Park	No. 222 Scott Taylor Motorsport	No. 222 Scott Taylor Motorsport
	R1		Scott Taylor Craig Baird	Scott Taylor Craig Baird
	R2		No. 59 McEldra Racing	No. 98 Aussie Driver Search
	R2		Fraser Ross	Jaie Robson
	R3			No. 222 Scott Taylor Motorsport
	R3			Scott Taylor Craig Baird
	R4			No. 98 Aussie Driver Search
	R4			Jaie Robson
2	R	The Bend	No. 8 Scott Taylor Motorsport	No. 8 Scott Taylor Motorsport
2	R	The Bend	Max Twigg Tony D'Alberto	Max Twigg Tony D'Alberto
3	R1	Sandown	No. 49 M Motorsport	No. 63 Eggleston Motorsport
	R1		Dean Koutsoumidis Glen Wood	Peter Hackett
	R2		No. 98 Aussie Driver Search	No. 24 KFC Racing
	R2		Jaie Robson	Tony Bates
	R3			No. 1 JAMEC PEM Racing
	R3			Geoff Emery
4	R	Phillip Island	No. 911 Walkinshaw Racing	No. 24 KFC Racing
4	R	Phillip Island	Liam Talbot John Martin	Tony Bates Daniel Gaunt
5	R1	Sydney	No. 63 Eggleston Motorsport	No. 911 Walkinshaw Racing
	R1		Peter Hackett	Liam Talbot
	R2		No. 63 Eggleston Motorsport	No. 911 Walkinshaw Racing
	R2		Peter Hackett	Liam Talbot
	R3			No. 63 Eggleston Motorsport
	R3			Peter Hackett
6	R	Hampton Downs		No. 1 Valvoline
6	R	Hampton Downs		Geoff Emery Garth Tander^[5]

Points system

Points were awarded as follows:^[1]

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	16th	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd	23rd	24th+
Qualifying session	10	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1
Round 1 R1	25	21	18	15	13	10	9	8	7	6	6	5	5	4	3	3	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1
Round 1 R2	45	38	32	27	23	18	16	14	13	11	10	9	8	7	5	5	4	4	3	3	2	2	1	1
Round 1 R3	50	42	35	30	25	20	18	16	14	12	11	10	9	8	6	5	4	4	3	3	2	2	1	1
Round 1 R4	80	67	56	48	40	32	29	26	22	19	18	16	14	13	10	8	6	6	5	5	3	3	1	1
Rounds 3, 5	67	56	47	40	33	27	24	21	19	16	15	13	12	10	8	7	6	5	5	4	3	3	3	3
Rounds 2, 4, 6	300	265	230	195	190	180	165	150	143	135	128	120	113	105	98	90	83	75	68	60	45	30	15	5

Championship standings

The Australian GT Championship was won by Geoff Emery.^[2]

Championship standings after five of six rounds were as follows:

Pos	Driver	ALB						BEN			SAN					PHI			SMP					HAM			Pts
Pos	Driver	R1	R2	R3	R4	QP	RP	R	QP	RP	R1	R2	R3	QP	RP	R	QP	RP	R1	R2	R3	QP	RP	R	QP	RP	Pts
1	Fraser Ross	9	2	7	3	10	129	5	6	196	3	2	2	8	167	6	5	185	3	4	3	14	148				825
2	Peter Hackett	7	3	6	2	7	135	6	13	193	1	6	4	12	146	11	7	135	2	2	1	20	199				808
3	Geoff Emery	3	5	2	5	12	135	12	5	125	2	4	1	12	175	5	14	204	4	3	4	7	134				773
4	Liam Talbot	5	6	3	4	6	120	2	17	282	4	3	3	15	149	Ret	15	15	1	1	2	12	202				768
5	Steven Richards	6	11	5	11	1	64	3	5	235	7	13	10	10	62	2	15	280	6	7	5	12	96				737
6	Tony Bates	Ret	7	10	7	7	64	4	3	198	8	1	12	6	107	1	11	311	7	DNS	9	3	46				726
7	Max Twigg Tony D'Alberto	4	4	Ret	6	15	89	1	15	315						3	6	236									640
8	Daniel Gaunt	Ret	7	10	7	7	64	4	3	198						1	11	311									573
9	Scott Taylor	1	9	1	8	12	126	10	0	135	Ret	8	7	0	45	7	2	167	13	8	10	1	50				523
10	Michael Almond							3	5	235						2	15	280									515
11	Craig Baird	1	9	1	8	12	126	10	0	135						7	2	167									428
12	John Martin	5	6	3	4	6	120	2	17	282						Ret	15	15									417
13	Jaie Robson	8	1	8	1	7	156	14	9	114	5	5	6	14	117												387
14	Adrian Deitz Cameron McConville							8	0	150						8	4	154	8	10	13	7	56				360
15	Yasser Shahin							15	14	112						10	2	137	5	5	7	9	99				348
16	Garth Tander							12	5	125						5	14	204									329
17	Jake Fouracre							6	13	193						11	7	135									328
18	Duvashen Padayachee							5	6	196						12	0	120									316
19	Tony Walls Warren Luff							7	0	165						9	0	143									308
20	Ash Samadi	12	10	Ret	DNS	4	20	9	0	143						13	10	123									286
21	Tony Quinn	10	8	9	9	56	128	11	1	129	10	11	9	4	54	Ret	0	0	Ret	9	12	0	32				239
22	Dylan O'Keefe							9	0	143						13	10	123									266
23	Shane van Gisbergen							11	1	129						12	0	120									249
24	Luke Youlden							15	14	112						10	2	137									249
25	Jim Mangolios	11	13	11	12	3	44	13	4	117	12	12	11	0	41				12	12	14	0	36				238
26	Andrew Fawcett Jonny Reid															4	1	196									196
27	Jaxon Evans															6	5	185									185
28	Dean Canto	11	13	11	12	3	44	13	4	117																	161
29	Ricky Capo										7	13	10	10	62				6	7	5	12	96				158
30	Marcel Fassler	3	5	2	5	12	135																				135
31	Dominic Storey	7	3	6	2	7	135																				135
32	Mark Griffith										9	7	5	1	77				10	11	8	0	52				129
33	David Reynolds							14	9	114																	114
34	Peter Edwards Giancarlo Fisichella	2	12	4	10	8	87																				87
35	Dean Koutsoumidis										6	10	Ret	10	53				11	DNS	DNS	0	15				68
36	Dean Grant	6	11	5	11	1	64																				64
37	Brett Hobson																		9	6	11	3	64				64
38	Marc Cini										11	9	8	0	55												55
39	Glen Wood										6	10	Ret	10	53												53
40	Andrew Miedecke George Miedecke																		DNS	DSQ	6	4	31				31
41	Justin McMillan																		11	DNS	DNS	0	15				15
42	Grant Denyer															Ret	0	0									0
Pos	Driver	R1	R2	R3	R4	QP	RP	R	QP	RP	R1	R2	R3	QP	RP	R	QP	RP	R1	R2	R3	QP	RP	R	QP	RP	Pts
Pos	Driver	ALB						BEN			SAN					PHI			SMP					HAM			Pts

Colour	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	Second place
Bronze	Third place
Green	Points finish
Blue	Non-points finish
Blue	Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple	Retired (Ret)
Red	Did not qualify (DNQ)
Red	Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
	Withdrew (WD)
	Race cancelled (C)
Blank	Did not practice (DNP)
	Did not arrive (DNA)
	Excluded (EX)

Bold - Pole position
Italics - Fastest lap

Australian GT4 standings

The GT4 Division was won by Jeremy Gray^[6] driving an Aston Martin Vantage.