Round 4 of Monochrome GT4 Australia at Phillip Island heralded a change for Tom McLennan as he made the swift shift from McLaren to Porsche.
McLennan joined Zoe Woods in the TekworkX Motorsport Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 MR CS for the pair of one-hour events as part of the inaugural SRO Motorsport Australia GT Festival after being aligned with Method Motorsport for the previous two rounds.
There was plenty of track time for McLennan to adjust from the Method Motorsport McLaren to the Porsche, with multiple test sessions prior to practice and pre-qualifying.
Qualifying 13th in his session, McLennan started the opening race and was well placed in the Porsche to be positioned inside the top 10.
Woods was able to maintain this to the flag as she crossed ninth at the end of Race 1.
Race 2 didn’t go to plan as contact with an Am Cup entry during Woods’ stint led to a damaged drivetrain when McLennan took over and eventual retirement as the Porsche started losing gears.
McLennan now focuses on his Paynter Dixon Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship campaign at Sandown on September 12-15.
QUOTES
Tom McLennan
#210 TekworkX Motorsport, Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR
“It was an awesome weekend, it was good fun,” said McLennan.
“We had plenty of practice here on Friday for the GT Festival. We had two 45-minute and a pair of one hour sessions, so there was plenty of seat time.
“I haven’t been here to Phillip Island in a year or so, but it was good to get in the car. I hadn’t driven the car before this weekend, but it was an awesome opportunity to familiarise myself with the team and car.
“Our qualifying was a little bit tricky and I couldn’t really get the tyres up to temperature, but Zoe was very good in her session to start from ninth.
“I started Race 1 and made some good ground at the start. We had a good fight with the newer Method Motorsport Porsche of Lachlan Mineeff, which was fun. I then handed off to Zoe, who did an awesome job to finish inside the top 10.
“In Race 2, Zoe started from ninth and had some unfortunate contact with an Am Cup entry, but she did a great job to bring it in a strong position at our pit stop. I jumped in, but we had some smoke coming from the right rear. At first the thought was a tyre had blown, but we began to lose drive, then fourth and fifth gear followed forcing us to retire.
“I’m sure the team will resolve it for the next remaining rounds.”
