Island Magic: Audi R8 wins season ending Phillip Island Magic‏

Melbourne Performance Centre Press Release

New Melbourne Performance Centre Audi R8 recruit Steve McLaughlan has taken out the season ending Island Magic event at Phillip Island.

Against a field of 42 Sports and GT cars, the newly crowned Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli Trophy Class Champion and reigning Victorian Sports Car Champion withstood mounting pressure from a fleet of Porsches to claim the win in his recently acquired R8 LMS GT3. After claiming a win and a second placed finish in the two short preliminary races the day prior, McLaughlan played strategy perfectly in the one hour final, using the pace of the Audi and the durability of his Pirelli to close down his competition in the dying stages of the race to win by almost two seconds. In a race that was littered with Safety Car periods and slower cars, McLaughlan was never really troubled admitting that he felt he had the measure of all challengers. 

He will now form part of an extended Melbourne Performance Centre team in the 2014 Australian GT Championship which gets underway in March [28-30] at Melbourne's Sandown Park.

Photo credit: RacerLink Australia-NZ

Island Magic: Victory for McLaughlan MPC Audi R8 LMS at the Phillip Island CUE one-hour

By Johan Laubscher

The annual Island Magic event was held at Phillip Island this weekend. One Audi R8 LMS took part in the CUE Sports Cars category and won the CUE Victorian Tourist Trophy for Sports Cars on Sunday.

Steven McLaughlan, one of Melbourne Performance Centre’s newest R8 LMS customers, was entered for the CUE Sports Cars races at the Island Magic this weekend. He was behind the wheel of his #76 Jamec Pem Racing Audi R8 LMS, the same car that he used to win the 2013 Victorian State Circuit Racing Championships sports cars title at the final round a few weeks ago, and the same car which he will be campaigning in the 2014 Australian GT Championship.

During qualifying McLaughlan achieved two sets of top four positions. He qualified third during the first session and fourth during the second session, placing sixth in the combined qualifying standings.

The first race of the weekend was split into two five lap races on Saturday, where the two drivers from each car took part in the two races individually, before they shared the car for the one-hour race on Sunday. Some of the vehicles only had one entered driver and in this case that driver completed both races on Saturday and the one-hour race on Sunday. Steven McLaughlan was one of these cases and he piloted his R8 LMS to victory in the first five lap race and took second position in the second race.

The main feature race, the Cue Sports Cars Island Magic one-hour event (CUE Victorian Tourist Trophy for Sports Cars), was held on Sunday. Steven McLaughlan was able to repeat his victory from Saturday, as he won the one-hour race on Sunday. McLaughlan thus added this race victory to his two championship titles from 2013: the 2013 Victorian State Circuit Racing Championships sports cars title (Viper and Audi) and his 2013 Australian GT Championship GT Trophy title (Viper).

This victory also marked the second triumph for an Audi R8 LMS in the CUE Victorian Tourist Trophy for Sports Cars, as Mark Eddy also won the event back in 2010, behind the wheel of his Penfold Audi R8 LMS.

Photo credit: RacerLink Australia-NZ