Maranello Motorsport is a GT racing team that is competing in the

Australian GT Championship The Australian GT Championship is a Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, CAMS-sanctioned national title for drivers of GT cars, held annually from 1960 to 1963, from 1982 to 1985 and from 2005. Each championship up to and including the 1963 ...

. Maranello Motorsport was formed in the late 1990s by Mark Coffey to enter Australia's then premier sports car racing series, Nations Cup.

Racing History

Australian GT

Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Maranello Motorsport

Maranello Motorsport has supported various customers in the Australian GT Championship. In 2007 the team upgraded to the latest F430GT3 and despite it not arriving until mid-season, went on to a string of podium finishes and fastest laps before winning the 2007 Australian GT Championship and the 2007 Sandown GT Classic with

Allan Simonsen Allan Rodenkam Simonsen (born 15 December 1952) is a Danish former footballer and manager. He most prominently played as a striker for German Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach, winning the 1975 and 1979 UEFA Cups, as well as for Barcel ...

and Tim Leahey driving. This was repeated in 2008 when Allan Simonsen and Nick O'Halloran won the GT Classic again. After campaigning a number of 430GT3's through 2009/10, 2011 saw the arrival of the new F458GT3 late in the year but just in time for the 2011 Bathurst Sprint. Its debut at this event sent shock waves through Australian motorsport when a new lap record of 2.04.95 was set by SImonsen early on the last morning of the event. This was nearly two whole seconds faster than Greg Murphy's "Lap of the Gods" from 2006 and sent the time keepers into such disbelief that they initially deleted the lap, believing it was a timing error. The time was later reinstated after the teams data showed the same time. One of their long-term drivers, Peter Edwards, went through the Maranello driver training system and started racing a

Ferrari 360 Challenge The Ferrari 360 (Type F131) is a two-seater, mid-engine, rear wheel drive sports car manufactured by Italian automotive manufacturer Ferrari from 1999 until 2005. It succeeded the Ferrari F355 and was replaced by the Ferrari F430 in 2004. Devel ...

, before graduating to a 430 GT3.

Cameron McConville Cameron 'Conkers' McConville (born 22 January 1974) is an Australian racing driver and motorsport celebrity. While retired from full-time competition, McConville still races occasionally and is an in-demand endurance event co-driver. McConville ...

and Nick O’Halloran competed in Maranello’s black Ferrari, supported by Apex Tubulars, while the team’s second red car was driven by two-time

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most recen ...

winner John Bowe and Edwards in 2012.

Bathurst 12 Hour

Maranello Motorsport won the

2014 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour The 2014 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour was an endurance race for a variety of GT and touring car classes, including: GT3 cars, GT4 cars and Group 3E Series Production Cars. The event, which was staged at the Mount Panorama Circuit, near Bath ...

at the

Mount Panorama Circuit Mount Panorama Circuit is a motor racing track located in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is situated on Mount Panorama (Wahluu) and is best known as the home of the Bathurst 1000 motor race held each October, and the Bathurst 12 Hour ...

on 9 February. Bowe and Edwards were joined in the team's winning

Ferrari 458 GT3 The Ferrari 458 Italia (Type F142) is a Mid-engine design, mid-engine sports car produced by Ferrari. The F458 is the successor of the Ferrari F430, F430, and was first officially unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show#2009, 2009 Frankfurt Motor ...

V8 Supercars The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australian ...

driver

Craig Lowndes Craig Andrew Lowndes (born 21 June 1974) is an Australian racing driver in the Repco Supercars Championship competing in the Holden ZB Commodore for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He is also a TV commentator. Lowndes is a three-time V8 Supe ...

and former

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

driver

Mika Salo Mika Juhani Salo (born 30 November 1966) is a Finnish former professional racing driver. He competed in Formula One between and . His best ranking was 10th in the world championship in 1999, when he stood in for the injured Michael Schumacher ...

. In a

Ferrari 488 GT3 The Ferrari 488 (Type F142M) is a mid-engine sports car produced by the Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari. The car replaced the 458, being the first mid-engine Ferrari to use a turbocharged V8 since the F40. It was succeeded by the Ferra ...

, the team repeated their triumph in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, with Lowndes being joined by

Toni Vilander Toni Markus Vilander (born 25 July 1980) is a Finnish professional racing driver who currently drives for the Risi Competizione Ferrari team in various categories of sports car racing. After a single-seater career which reached the level of the ...

and

Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup (born 6 February 1983) is an Australian professional racing driver competing in the Supercars Championship. He currently is team principal for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He has driven the No. 88 Holden Commodore (ZB), Holden Z ...

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://maranellomotorsport.com.au/ Australian auto racing teams Sports teams in Victoria (Australia) Ferrari in motorsport