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Round 2 of GP-O’s inaugural season ready and set for a showdown. With just under 5 hours to go, a few remaining drivers are now gracing the land of the wallabies with their presence.Some chose to hang back to enjoy the luxuries of the gulf in Bahrain and have been spotted making their way off their chartered carriers. With the current £40 million budget cap imposed by the FIA, we’re seeing fewer G5s arriving at Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport.

The man to beat from Round 1, Jan-Moritz Kammann, managed to edge Williamson Dynamics GP’s Camilo Nino off the leader board earlier in the week only to see GRIDline UK tear that sheet up into shreds. Lukas Euler sits more than half second clear of teammate David Dominguez hanging on to a one-hundredth of a second lead over the current points leader. We wait to see what last minute changes will surface and if these guys can find some more pace before qualification.

The GPO-O Sprint series drivers are simply bidding their time now, waiting to jump on the circuit as soon as the post-race celebrations end. In a quick chat with one of the crew members sporting a suit clad in BackMarkerBrigade colours, he mentioned that PSRTV’s coverage of the Challenge race will be an eye-opener in picking up the parts of the track where to really push the car and find the difficult overtaking spots.

After such a great opening performance by all GP-O teams in the maiden round, the atmosphere is simply ecstatic. Large numbers of visitors have dropped by to say congratulations to the guys in Melbourne, and the enormous quantity of fantastic feedback online, confirms the exciting growth of GP-O amongst the F1 circles. Jet-lagged crews tweaking cars for optimum performance, all the while adjusting to the 10-hour time difference did not make anyone available for some good interviews, but expect a few words after qualifying. I did grab a quick chat with Sven Hesse of RedSpeed Grand Prix who had noticed some of the new drivers joining the line-up. “I know some of these guys, and they are crazy quick”, he said “expect some really good battles on the track.

So Albert Park, GP-O is here. The track itself, set in mown parkland, is easy to walk around so anyone with general admission will have a blast of a weekend. Those in the grandstands will also be but be caught with gleaming faces at the beginning and end of each lap. Heading back down to the paddocks from my room at the Crown Towers with stunning views of Port Philip Bay to get ready, I’m giddy with bounce and ebullience: 2 races, 2 championships, 2 electrifying days of fun… get ready to go racing!

-reporting from the grid, this has been EB with ‘GP Inside’