Bowe and Edwards take opening Australian GT victory with Salo at the wheel

The opening hour of the 2013 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour has played host to the opening race and round of the 2013 Australia GT Championship, with Mika Salo at the wheel, taking the victory on behalf of Maranello Motorsports regular GT drivers, John Bowe and Peter Edwards.

As the opening series race and the endurance event commenced, the track temperature remained low, 20 degrees as experienced during opening practice days ago. Salo made the start, settling into third as the pack charged up the mountain for the first time.

Hearts jumped to mouths in the Il Bello Rosso Racing garage as Salo made his way through traffic, with nowhere to go, the #88 sustained contact when squeezed between the wall and a Porsche entry on the run up Griffins Bend, the Ferrari continuing on with scuffing to the right front. With the second fastest time of the race now banked, as the first restart commenced, Salo sat first in classification and fifth on the road, making his way to the head of the pack on the run up Mountain Straight.

With a second safety car called after an incident on the run down to Conrod Straight, there was only minutes remaining in the first hour and with Salo first on the road, he would complete the hour under safety car but had done what was needed to take the win in the Australian GT opener, teammates and regular Maranello Motorsport drivers John Bowe and Peter Edwards thrilled with the victory but looking ahead to the 11 hours on the mountain that remain.

As lap 24 began, Salo headed to pit lane for the first teams stop, a driver change to hand the car to Edwards and refuel, now positioned in the pack in 14th as the 90 minute mark ticks over.

John BoweIts a very unusual feeling having neither of us taken to the wheel yet, but thats the rules for this one and its a great victory for the team to start out.The series is all about points and clearly those with the most points win so obviously this helps with that cause.Its a long day to look ahead for the rest of the 12 hour and yesterday I saw the pitfalls of traffic. Inside an hour weve witnessed some serious carnage so its all about carnage management more than anything else.Theres a large variance across driver skill out there which is magnified with such a big field, so not hiting anyone is my focal point.Ill be in quite a while later but Mika (Salo) and Pete (Edwards) will have it under control and Ill get in once weve seen how fuel consumption is going, when in the heat of the day well change to a harder compound too.Weve got the first box ticked, and theres still a long day ahead as in these sort of races you need to think on your feet, and the good thing is that weve got a great group of guys who think on their feet so I dont have to worry.

Peter EdwardsIts a great feeling and its only early on. It was one of our aims for today, as important as 12 hour itself so Im glad that weve been able to achieve it. Theres much more ahead and Im about to get in the car so well push on and try to keep it clean and committed.

Mika SaloThat opener was easy enough as I didnt have to deal with traffic so could lap on my own.I think I now know the circuit, finally, so will be ok for the rest of the long race.Weve been out there fighting for the lead, have some scratches already as I had nowhere to go going up the mountain so was squeezed between the wall and another car. I was a bit worried coming down the straight at full speed for the first time, but the car felt ok.Im glad to have more experience and a pretty good run done, and its great to have been able to win the Australian GT event for the team and help to give them a good start for their season.

Maranello Motorsports 2013 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour campaign is proudly supported by Il Bello RossoBaby Roma Tomatoes, IVECO Trucks, Adtrans Truck Centre, General Pants Co and GPI Corporate, and is proudly in support of the Australian Defence Force.*ends*


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