Fastway didn't compete in the opening round of the 14-team champs in the 2011 spec Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car, flirting with speeds of up to 170km/h.
"Our timing was all wrong because the car arrived late from Auckland," says Ellingham, of Napier, who exchanged fumes with Aston Martins, Ferraris, Lamborghinis and McLarens in the series.
The Highlands park effort included qualifying 11th in a field of about 40 cars, finishing in the top 10 ahead of higher-classed cars.
Ellingham puts Fastway team's progress down to its involvement with a driver-development programme.
McElrea Racing Team (owner Andy McElrea) in the Gold Coast had put Fastway drivers through the spin-dry cycle a lot more that they had done last year.
Driver coach Warren Luff "has been sort of mentoring us on the track and off it" with data.
The racing stable forged ties with Fastway Couriers for its first foray into an international event as the brand this year made its return to Australian motorsport after 17 years.
Fastway Couriers last sponsored a team in Australia in the 1997 Bathurst 1000, with a breakdown on the final lap of the race resulting in one of the most incredible displays of sportsmanship in Bathurst history.
Dwayne Bewley prompted international headlines in 1997 when he pushed his Peugeot over the finish line at Bathurst after 161 laps following mechanical problems, agonisingly shy of the chequered flag.
Working as a sales manager at Euro City in Napier nowadays, Bewley was a Fastway Couriers Team driver in Australia who also drove a Mazda Astina in the New Zealand Super Touring Car.
The former motorbike racer established Bewley Racing with Subaru.
Ellingham, a Peak marketing account executive, will return to Napier in Christmas before returning to Brisbane to focus on the next season starting in February.
He fancies their chances on the basis of building familiarity with the six tracks raced in the states of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
"We should finish in the top three and be really good next season," says Ellingham, finding comfort in clocking a time that is only a second outside the time a professional driver would set.
"We're a little bit out but we're right in the ball game," he says, revealing Luff does a couple of rounds in the car and he and Heimgartner aspire to emulate it.
Luff, 38, is the son of former Aussie driver Ian.
The V8 Supercar driver teamed up with Garth Tander to defend this year's Endurance Cup.
He was runner-up in the Australian Carrera Cup Championship driving the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Type 991.
Ellingham says the times he and Heimgartner posted didn't reflect their true pace in the mid-pack in the final meeting.
"All that matters to us is where you finish on race day. We've made some set-up changes since Sandown, so our focus is to make sure we understand the car properly and get the most out of it."
Capitalising from an early incident and subsequent penalty issued to GT Trophy leader Rod Salmon, Ellingham avoided the melee to gain a few positions.
It was enough to hold on for Fastway Racing's first podium and to put the team into a handy starting position for race two.
They pushed hard but missed the podium in the large GT Trophy class. The combined points from the two races put Ellingham in eighth place in the GT Trophy standings for the season.
"It's been a very successful debut season for us. Joining the Australian GT Championship has been about improving and learning everything there is to know about this very diverse and competitive sport," he says.
