March 09, 2012
Published on tags: Superleague
With pre-season testing over with, the GPVWC Superleague opening round at Melbourne was finally going to answer many unanswered questions that were thrown up before, and during pre-season testing. With some new faces joining the field for the 2012 season, arguably the strongest field ever arrived in Melbourne.


There was definitely some hype surrounding some of these new faces, which included GPVWC Masters champion Simon Cattell, Tom Eley and Lukas Euler. 2010 Superleague champion Janne Tanskanen made a surprise return, joining reigning Constructors champions Red Archer, meaning this would be the first season where more than one World Champion would be on the grid at the same time.


During pre-season, many predicted Midnight Motorsport to have a strong package, along with their strong driver line-up of Euler and Nick Rowland, but nobody could have predicted that Euler would take pole position by an incredible 8 tenths of a second ahead of Lee Morris for Draig Racing. Euler's teammate Rowland took 3rd on the grid ahead of reigning champion Joe Consiglio in 4th. Debutant Tom Eley for ST Racing rounded out the top 5. Euler's qualifying performance stunning the GPVWC fraternity, he instantly became the odds on favourite for the win.

Sure enough, it was Euler who sailed through to win his first ever Superleague race at his first attempt, and didn't suffer from any issues, while his main rivals all encountered various issues during the race. A ratherdespondentLee Morris held onto 2nd place, despite suffering a puncture from an errant front wing on the track. Joe Consiglio had to settle for 3rd, and had a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pitlane. Janne Tanskanen had a quiet return to life in the GPVWC, taking 4th place in his first race back, and Nick Rowland rounded out the top 5, but had hopes for a podium before getting caught up in an incident whilst trying to lap Gavin Thomas. An impressive drive from Tom Parker saw him finish 6th on his debut for Woods Racing. Pavel Loknovski, Tom Eley, Lewis Redshaw and Ryan Walker rounded out the top 10.

With many of the pre-season questions now answered, it's clear that many of the favourite contenders for the championship having some catching up to do, with Euler, and the Midnight Motorsport package, which have come together at just the right time. With so much quality in the field though, even with the strongest package, no doubt the likes of Morris, Consiglio and Tanskanen will try to close the gap as they head to Shanghai in China for Round 2.



Australian Grand Prix: Results