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Aston Martin and Astuti Motorsport closer to maiden GT Victory after tough Grand Prix weekend

Aston Martin DBRS9 team Astuti Motorsport and driver John Kaias feel that the combinations debut victory is just around the corner after a fast yet frustrating weekend at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

The team showed good pace at Albert Park, yet several frustrating setbacks left driver John Kaias 10th overall – in the third Australian GT Championship round of the year – at the weekend despite having the performance to race at the very front.

After impressively finishing inside the top two at Eastern Creek’s opening round in early February, and then enduring a shortened Clipsal 500 weekend after a race one off, Kaias and the Aston will now have to wait for the next round – to be held at Oran Park in Sydney – to aim for their first win on local soil.

However, the team has added motivation for that event after more promising – indeed, scintillatingly quick – performances were extracted from the DBRS9 on the demanding street circuit at the weekend.

Kaias qualified the Aston fourth in Thursday’s sole 20-minute session, just seven-tenths from the pole position winner; Irish international Hector Lester. Impressively Kaias was nearly two seconds quicker than the next car in the order, placing the crowd-pleasing Aston well inside the leading group of four.

Kaias set the quickest lap in race one (2m03.1349) after a massive race-long dice with several cars moving from fifth in the early laps to eventually come within 1.5 seconds of third placed Mark Eddy, driving a Lamborghini.

Kaias then made a stunning start to race two, leaping to third position and putting pressure on touring car icon John Bowe’s Ferrari. With his never-say-die attitude, Kaias pressured Bowe for several laps until unfortunate contact left the Aston with damage to the left-front corner and out of the race.

After replacing a left-front control arm between races, Kaias charged his way from 23rd on the grid to a strong position, though a driving infringement penalty following the race added 30 seconds to his time and dropped the car to 16th on the grid for the fourth and final race held Sunday.

Picking up where he left off, Kaias charged to an eventful seventh place finish in race four to complete an up-and-down weekend of racing.

“I am really frustrated because I am putting everything I have into my racing at the moment and not getting the results,” John Kaias said. ”I am very focussed on winning and I’m certain that it can’t be far away. I’m looking forward to Oran Park – we have a test day there before the round and I’ve raced there before in Porsche’s so hopefully things will go well for us there.”

“I feel a win is just around the corner for John and the team in the GT Championship,” Astuti Motorsport’s Sam Astuti commented.

”It was a tough weekend in Melbourne and the results didn’t go our way, but the pace is definitely there. John is learning a lot and getting closer and closer to a breakthrough every time he is on the track. The capability is there in the package to do the job so hopefully we can have a good weekend at Oran Park.” He said.

Astuti Motorsport will next be in action at the April 25 – 27 Shannons Nationals round at Oran Park Raceway in NSW for round four of the Australian GT Championship, and round three of the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship.

For more information head to www.astutimotorsport.com