After two seasons in the mighty KTM X-Bow GT4, Sydney’s David Crampton is smiling wider than ever, and on the eve of an Australian Championship battle in which he and team-mate Trent Harrison are right in the title fight, it’s understandable that the duo are upbeat despite heading into Melbourne’s uncertain Spring weather.
As one of two cars capable of taking out the 2019 CAMS Australian Endurance Championship crown in GT4, Crampton knows he needs a perfect weekend as he tackles title rivals Justin McMillan and Glen Wood in an identical 2-litre turbo Audi-powered KTM X-Bow, the M-Motorsport team-mates though whilst taking the fight seriously, will extract as many laughs as possible across what will be a challenging weekend.
Joining the Melbourne-based M-Motorsport operation to kick off the 2018 Bathurst 12-Hour, Crampton has been on a steep learning curve ever since, admitting that coming into Australian GT alongside a string of faster GT3 cars, has really forced him to tackle the issue head-on.
Testament to that was Crampton’s epic effort in challenging wet and dry conditions at The Bend Motorsport Park, where they emerged with their first GT4 outright victory.
With the addition of more cars into the GT4 field, Crampton’s other issue will be ensuring they maximise their result in relation to their title rivals, but as a fan of the challenging 3.1-kilometre, 13-turn Sandown layout, he isn’t too phased.
“I have to say that when I knew we were going to come to Sandown twice this year for Australian GT I was pretty happy,” Crampton continued. “It’s one of my favourite venues, and I’d seen a fair bit of success with my Radical SR3 there in the past with a string of podium finishes, so I do like it.”
Whilst this weekend will represent Crampton’s first chance to fight for a title in season 2019, he will get a second chance – again at Sandown – when the CAMS Australian GT Championship comes to its conclusion at the venue in early November.
For Crampton and team-mate Trent Harrison though, focus for now turns to Sandown where track action begins on Friday (20 September) with a solitary practice session at 10:10am, ahead of qualifying at midday on Saturday and the opening one-hour leg of the endurance championship at 3:30pm. The remaining two one-hour legs will come on Sunday at 10:35am and 4:50pm respectively, the top point scorer for each of the legs classified as the round winner in both the GT3 and GT4 categories.
