Team Lamborghini Australia driver, Peter Hackett made his return to the track steering the N#5 Lamborghini Diablo GTR to split the wins at the inaugural WPS Bathurst International Motor Festival last weekend (14-15th April).
The CAMS seeded driver, who won an impressive 10 from 12 races for the Team, to finish second in the Championship in 2005, stepped back in to the “Black Bull” for the first time this season and putting in a sensational drive over the weekend he crossed the line to secure the victory in the second race of the 2006 Speed Energy Drink Australian GT Championship.
The car struggled for outright pace all weekend, but Hackett, an experienced campaigner, drove the Diablo GTR with limited revs to qualify a respectable fifth.
Hackett was then forced to start race one from pit lane due to trouble with an intermittent fuse link to the fuel pump on his car. The Team able to fix the problem saw him join the race at the back of the field and it wasn’t too long before he had powered his way through the 27 strong field of Porches and Ferraris to position the “Black Bull” amongst the front runners before finally finishing the 12 lap race in fifth place.
Starting the second race again from fifth position, Hackett drove brilliantly to take third immediately off the line. By the fourth lap had moved into second position and by lap nine he had taken the race lead after ceasing the opportunity to overtake when his challenger was held up by lapped traffic.
Taking full advantage of the situation, Hackett went on to control the remainder of the race to steer the Diablo GTR and it’s fluro colored “Matrix” decal across the line for the race victory and setting the fastest lap time of 2:15.684 he finished on the podium with the race win and second outright for the weekend.
An impressive start to the 2006 race season for the man they nickname “Hollywood”. The weekend’s victory has him again hungry and determined to add this years GT Championship to his already F4000 and Formula 3 Championship titles.
For Team Lamborghini Australia the weekend marked their return to the Mountain for the first time since the Bathurst 24hr Endurance race in 2003, and ecstatic with the outcome of the weekend’s results the team look forward to the rest of the season ahead.
