Australian GT ready for Townsville street fight

A packed grid will take to the Reid Park circuit in Townsville as part of Round 5 of the CAMS Australian GT Championship this weekend (July 7-9).

Making a welcome return will be reigning champion Christopher Mies, who will steer the #1 JAMEC PEM Racing Audi R8 LMS alongside Tony Bates.

It will be the first time the duo has paired up but is far from the only change for the four ringed brand this weekend.

Joining the squad for the first time is Ash Samadi in his brand-new Audi R8 LMS, and Marc Cini will make his 2016 Australian GT debut.

Samadi and Cini form part of a mighty six-car team for the Melbourne Performance Centre which also features Steve McLaughlan, a race winner at Barbagallo, the James Koundouris/Marcus Marshall pair and Greg Taylor, fresh from a double victory at the CAMS Australian GT Trophy Series presented by Pirelli at Sydney Motorsport Park last weekend.

It's a fearsome lineup for Championship leader Nathan Morcom to contend with, the DPO McLaren 650S GT3 driver having taken the championship lead following victory in Round 4 at Phillip Island.

Grant Denyer and Jonathon Webb will combine in the #59 McLaren Melbourne entry while Nathan Antunes, who emerged victorious in Race 2 at Townsville last year, will share the Beechwood/SLR/Buildmap McLaren 650S GT3 with Elliot Barbour.

Having shown impressive pace in their first two outings, Walkinshaw GT3 returns with John Martin and new co-driver Neale Muston, who will step into the Porsche 911 GT3-R for the first time.

Porsche will also be represented by Andrew Macpherson in the AMAC Motorsport 997 GT3-R, a car he'll share once more with Brad Shiels.

There's plenty of German influence on the grid as BMW and Mercedes also feature prominently.

The three-pointed star will field two AMG GT3s for Mark Griffith and Scott Taylor/Craig Baird while BMW will boast Steve Richards and Max Twigg in the M6 GT3 and the ever impressive Ricky Capo in the popular Modena Engineering Z4 GT3.

Four entries from the raging bull will see former championship leaders Justin McMillan and Glen Wood once again behind the wheel of the Interlloy M Motorsport Lamborghini R-EX.

Roger Lago will pilot his Lamborghini R-EX around the streets of Reid Park, a circuit which shares much in common with the Adelaide Parklands where the JBS Australia driver proved a contender throughout the opening weekend of the championship in March.

Dean Canto and Andrew Taplin partner up once again in the Taplin Real Estate Entry while father and son combination Peter and Alex Rullo share the Performance West Motorsport Lamborghini Gallardo.

Audi's ranks are bolstered by the Fastway Couriers entry of Simon Ellingham and Tim Miles while there is a single Aston Martin Vantage GT3 from Tony Quinn in the Darrell Lea entry.

The Darrell Lea squad will also be busy with Klark Quinn's McLaren 650S GT3, the former champ currently second in the points standings heading into the penultimate round of the season.

Already a race winner in 2016, Tony Walls will be looking to repeat that success this weekend as he once again takes control of the Object Racing McLaren 650S GT3 for both 60-minute encounters across the weekend.

The CAMS Australian GT Championship kicks off the on-track action on Friday (July 7) morning with opening practice at 9:10am with the first of two qualifying sessions scheduled for 11:30am.

Second qualifying opens proceedings on Saturday morning at 9:25am ahead of Race 1 at 11:40. Race 2 gets under way at 11:25am on Sunday.

All sessions will be shown live on Fox Sports channel 506 from Saturday morning.

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