Lotto winners Ferrari yet to win GT championship

Lotto winners Ferrari yet to win GT championship

He owns one of fastest cars in the Australian GT championship, but in a season of trying, Gerald Trass has yet to see his Ferrari win a race.

There are 10 million reasons why you'll never hear him blame bad luck.

Only the properly rich could afford to turn some world's most exotic machinery into stripped-out race cars for the Australian GT series, and taking on the 28 Australian cars is a lone Kiwi team.

"To go out, be at the front and to be an all-Kiwi team is great," says TFM lead driver Jono Lester.

But being from the other side of the Tasman isn't the most unique thing about this team.

Until three years ago this wasn't even a dream for TFM team owner Gerald Trass. Back then the only racing in his life was delivering flowers around Auckland.

"I had a plastic bag with my money in it. I pulled it out to pay for my drink, saw my Lotto ticket and thought I'd better check that. It turned out to be a winning ticket – $10.6 million," says Trass.

Nothing he has done with the $10 million windfall compares to this.

"It's a dream for me. I've always been a motorsport fan, ever since my dad took me to the Lart track when I was 10 and we used to talk about forming a motorsport team," says Trass.

Twenty-seven so far hasn't been a winning number, but being so fast has a down side because the series is handicapped, which means the better teams are given a pit stop penalty – the perfect chance for some social media.

"I feel at times a little bit hard done by but it's great racing, because we're always catching up, we always have to be on the limit – as a driver that is what you love," says Lester.

Then again Trass has already had the win to beat them all.

"Our time will come on the winners circle," he says.

And yes, he says, win or lose it was worth every cent of the $14 it all cost.

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