Lachlan Mineeff and Shane Smollen are set for their longest race to date aboard the Central Element/Equipment Dynamics Porsche Cayman GT4 RS, a three-hour marathon endurance race around Queensland Raceway for Round 3 of the Monochrome GT4 Australia Series this weekend.
In addition to the three-hour race on Sunday, there will also be a one-hour on Saturday for a total of four hours of track time, and Mineeff is excited about the long-distance format.
“I really like the challenges of personal stamina and maintaining concentration that endurance racing brings,” Mineeff said.
“I’ve had some previous success in events like the Bathurst 6 Hour where I’ve raced a production car, so I’m looking forward to some long-distance racing in a purpose-built Porsche. These GT4 cars are built for endurance racing and we’ve seen that they’ve completed plenty of 24 hour races overseas without missing a beat.”
All competitors in the three-hour race will be required to make three compulsory pit stops, with driver changes happening at each stop and refuelling taking place during the second stop.
“The one-hour races we’ve had at the first two rounds have worked well, but this is an opportunity to see how the racing plays out over a longer distance,” Mineeff said.
“Hopefully it’s a successful weekend for everyone, and opens the door to some even longer GT4 races moving forward.”
Off the back of a stellar previous round at The Bend, where Mineeff and Smollen won the Pro-Am class in both races and finished third outright in Race 1, Mineeff is confident of more strong results this weekend.
“Queensland Raceway is Shane’s home track, and I also raced the car with him at QR last year, so of all the circuits on the calendar, it’s the one where we have the most combined experience,” Mineeff said.
“Shane’s driving at The Bend was outstanding – he was matching it with the Pros – so if we can repeat that sort of form, there’s no reason we can’t be challenging for some more outright top three results as well as Pro-Am class wins.”
Round 3 of Monochrome GT4 Australia will be held as part of a stacked Shannons SpeedSeries event at Queensland Raceway on August 2-4 to be broadcast live on 7plus for Australian residents. International viewers can watch on the GT World YouTube channel.