Motorsport: Calendar for next Australian GT Championship released

The 2017 Australian GT season promises to be actioned packed with a calendar which takes in five states and crosses the Tasman for the Hampton Downs 101 and the now traditional Highlands Motorsport Park finale.

"After an enormously successful season in 2016 we're looking forward to next season already," said category manager Ken Collier.

"We think our calendar provides a great mix for competitors and fans, and we're excited to be heading to Tasmania for the first time.

"The success of the Hampton Downs 101 this year made it a great addition and one we were keen to keep for next seaon, and adds to the marquee events on the schedule."

The new-look calendar will see Australian GT become the flagship category of the CAMS National Racing Championships with eight events held as part of the Shannons Nationals schedule.

The CAMS Australian GT Championship will once again feature at the Clipsal 500 around the parkland streets of Adelaide's CBD with three 40-minute races.

Competitors will then head across the border to Victoria as the Championship returns to Albert Park in support of the 2017 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix with four 25-minute races.

A twilight race at Queensland Raceway will add an all-new spectacle to the racing as the Championship reaches Queensland with its standard two 60-minute encounters before venturing across Bass Straight to the challenging Symmons Plains circuit in early September.

The 15-race Australian GT Championship reaches its conclusion once again at Highlands Motorsport Park in New Zealand on November 10-11 in a massive double-header weekend of action that will also see the culmination of the 2017 CAMS Australian Endurance Championship.

After a hugely successful 2016, the CAMS Australian Endurance Championship maintains a four-event programme, taking in Phillip Island, Sydney Motorsport Park, Hampton Downs and Highlands Motorsport Park.

The 101 format will receive a tweak however, with races increased to over 500-kilometres while Hampton Downs will again feature an exciting Top 10 Shootout on Saturday afternoon.

After the 2016 CAMS Australian GT Trophy Series presented by Pirelli was settled only in the final race of the season, the competition returns bigger and better for 2017.

A new wave of GT3 machines will be eligible for the Series, including the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 while a class specifically catering to GT4 machines will be welcomed into the fold.

The Trophy Series will once again take to the historic Sandown circuit in April before back-to-back visits to Winton Motor Raceway in June and August.

Competition then heads south to the flowing Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit before wrapping up around Wakefield Park in New South Wales.

It makes for a 13 packed weekends of Australian GT action, with more than 18 hours of racing spread across the CAMS Australian GT Championship and CAMS Australian GT Trophy Series presented by Pirelli, with a further 486 laps of competition as part of the CAMS Australian Endurance Championship.