A 15 car grid will assemble for the season finale for GT World Challenge Australia as part of the support bill for the Bathurst 1000 this week.
Christopher Mies is aiming to help Melbourne Performance Centre’s Yasser Shahin secure the inaugural GT World Challenge Australia Pro-Am title, with the South Australian holding a 37-point advantage ahead of Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Prince Jefri Ibrahim.
Mies is no stranger to the mountain and Audi GT3 machinery, having won the Bathurst 12 Hour in 2011 and 2012. He will add to his weekend duties by contesting the final round of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series, driving an Audi RS 3 as a guest driver.
Prince Jefri will also call on a new co-driver in the form of Australian Endurance Championship and Tourist Trophy winner Peter Hackett, providing an interesting side story to the title battle.
Marc Rosser will race for the first at the Mountain with Roberto Mehri acting as a mentor and team-mate during the course of the weekend as the team step up to a current specification Audi R8 GT3 LMS Evo.
Rosser’s Catan-liveried Audi is one of many new entries for this round including a similar Coin Spot-backed R8 GT3 LMS Evo for local GT racing returnees Liam Talbot and Fraser Ross.
Finalising the Pro-Am entries is the Grove Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3R, with father-son team Stephen and Brenton Grove aiming to end their maiden season in local GT racing on a high.
AMAC Motorsport has swapped to a Porsche 911 GT3R as Andrew Macpherson and Ben Porter aim to take the honours in Am Class.
GT returnees James and Theo Koundouris, as well as Marc Cini, will enter the Am Class in Audis, joining regular Gary Higgon.
RAM Motorsport will make its Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS debut with Mike Sheargold and Garth Walden driving a recently upgraded Mercedes-AMG GT3.
A tight battle is promised in GT Trophy as just 25-points separate local driver Brad Schumacher, who will debut a newer specification Audi R8 GT3 LMS and Brett Hobson’s Nissan GT-R GT3.
One addition sure to be a fan favourite will be Mike Bailey’s Bentley Continental GT3, Crewe’s missile replacing Bailey’s Aston Martin this time out.
Rounding out the GT Trophy field is Scott Taylor in his Porsche 911 GT3R – Taylor has elected to run double duty and enter his Porsche GT3-R in the Trophy Class rather than his Mercedes.
“We decided the Porsche would be more similar to the Carrera Cup car, obviously both being the same manufacturer means it has the same sort of styling in the cockpit and there are no massive changes between the cars,” Taylor said.
“Given the year we’ve had, and the limited racing it drew me towards wanting to do as much racing as possible at the end of the year. Plus, Bathurst being Bathurst it had to be done.”
The field is completed by Mark Griffith in his Mercedes-AMG GT4.
Two one-hour races will decide each title.
Entry List
Championship
- 9 – Am Hallmarc – Marc Cini – Audi R8 LMS Evo
- 17 – Am What do you Meme? – Mark Rosser – AudiR8 LMS EVO
- 45 – Am RAM Motorsport /GWR Australia – Mike Sheargold /Garth Walden – Mercedes AMG GT3
- 51 – Am Imak Kwikmit – Andrew Macpherson/ Ben Porter – Porsche GT3-R
- 69 – Am Supabarn – James Koundouris/ Theo Koundouris – Audi R8 LMS Evo
- 124 – Am K.F.C. – Gary Higgon/ Paul Stokell – Audi R8 LMS Evo
- 4 – Pro/Am Grove Group /Dasher+Fisher Gin – Stephen Grove/ Brenton Grove – Porsche GT3-R 911-II
- 65 – Pro/Am Coin Spot – Liam Talbot/ Fraser Ross – Audi R8 LMS Evo
- 777 – Pro/Am The Bend Motorsport Park /Valvoline – Yasser Shahin/ Chris Mies – Audi R8 LMS Evo
- 888 – Pro/Am Triple Eight Race Engineering – JMR – Prince Jefri Ibrahim/ Peter Hackett – Mercedes AMG GT3
GT4
- 19 – Am Daimler Trucks Brisbane – Mark Griffith – Mercedes AMG GT4
Trophy
- 38 – Am Trading Garage /The Motorists – Michael Bailey – Bentley Continental GT3
- 55 – Am Schumacher Motorsport /Kelso Electrical – Brad Schumacher – AudiR8 LMS
- 96 – Am Hobson Motorsport – Brett Hobson – Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3
- 222 – Am Scott Taylor Motorsport – Scott Taylor – Porsche 911 GT3R
