GT World Challenge Australia’s round 4 took place at Sandown Raceway in Melbourne’s south-east, with a pair of sprint races around the 3.104km circuit. Qualifying on Friday saw championship leader Yasser Shahin in the #1 The Bend Motorsport Park Audi take pole in the Am only Q1, finishing 0.028s ahead of championship rival Liam Talbot in the #20 Coin Spot Audi R8. In Q2, Shane Van Gisbergen put the #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes AMG on pole, ahead of Garth Tander in the #1 Audi.
Saturday’s race 1 started under gloomy skies and light rain despite being ‘the best conditions of the weekend,’ after very heavy rain in the morning. Yasser Shahin in the #1 The Bend Motorsport Park Audi R8 lead through the opening lap, ahead of Liam Talbot in the #20 Coin Spot Audi R8. Prince Jefri Ibrahim moved quickly through the field, starting the #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes AMG from 6th on the grid and ending the first lap in third place.
It wasn’t long before the conditions caught out the drivers; Yasser Shahin locked the rears on the entry to turn 2, spinning across the grass and coming to rest just off the racing line at Turn 3, forcing Talbot and Ibrahim to take avoiding action. This dropped Shahin to 6th place, behind the battle for the Am lead between Ross Poulakis in the #101 Harrolds Racing Mercedes AMG and Matt Stoupas in the #23 KFC Audi R8, but Stoupas was the next to get caught out by the conditions, spinning at turn 12 and dropping to the rear of the field.
The conditions slowly improved throughout the first stint, with the rain stopping after 10 minutes of racing. As the track dried out, it was Prince Jefri Ibrahim who was setting the track alight, reeling in Talbot to battle for the lead of the race. Ibrahim poked and probed at the rear of Talbot’s Audi before using better drive traction out of the final corner to make a commanding move down the main straight, taking the lead of the race 6 minutes before the opening of the pit window.
Also making moves while the sun was shining was Yasser Shahin, who recovered from his early spin to return the #1 The Bend Motorsport Park Audi to third place. With the pit window about to open, Ibrahim and Talbot hit traffic, enabling Shahin to catch the rear of the battle, and an opportunistic move into turn 1 moved Shahin into second place.
The top three entered the pits nose-to-tail, with Prince Jefri Ibrahim leading Yasser Shahin and Liam Talbot into the lane. Due to success penalties earned from the last round of the championship at Queensland Raceway, the #1 The Bend Motorsport Park Audi had 15 seconds extra to take in the pits, while the #20 CoinSpot Audi had 10 seconds, and the #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes had only 5 seconds to take. This allowed Shane van Gisbergen to exit the lane with a comfortable 5 second lead over Fraser Ross in the #20 CoinSpot Audi, with Garth Tander now in the #1 The Bend Motorsport Park Audi in third place. Fourth after the pit stops was Am class leader Ross Poulakis in the #101 Harrolds Racing Mercedes AMG, only just out of striking range to the leaders.
With conditions continuing to improve, Garth Tander took no time to reel in Fraser Ross. A great run out of Turn 9 for Tander looked to let him make the move for second around the outside into the final corner complex, but he outbraked himself, running through the gravel trap, returning to the track on the main straight again behind Ross. Only a few corners later, Ross himself had a moment at Turn 2, running through the grass at the chicane and giving Tander the position.
The battle behind allowed race leader Shane van Gisbergen to pull out to a 16 second lead, before heavy rain returned with 20 minutes left on the clock. The safety car was called with 16 minutes remaining after two scary moments for different cars. Firstly, Am leader Ross Poulakis spun at high speed between turns 6 and 7, spinning to the inside but managing to keep it off the wall. Moments later, Matt Stoupas in the #23 KFC Audi locked the rears into turn 11, firing the car to the inside, just missing the wall, and aquaplaning across the track to end his race in the final corner gravel trap.
With no sign of conditions improving, the race was called under Safety Car, giving Shane van Gisbergen and Prince Jefri Ibrahim in the #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes AMG victory, ahead of the #1 The Bend Motorsport Park Audi of Yasser Shahin and Garth Tander, and Fraser Ross and Liam Talbot third in the #209 Coin Spot Audi.
Despite the spin, Ross Poulakis took the Am class victory and fourth overall in the #101 Harrolds Racing Mercedes AMG, with Tony Bates and David Reynolds finishing fifth in the #24 C Tech Laser Audi R8. Marc Cini in the #9 Hallmarc Audi finished 6th, ahead of Paul Stokell and Gary Higgon in the #2 KFC Audi, with the GT2 KTM X-Bow of Trent Harison and David Crampton finishing in 8th. Garth Walden and Mike Sheargold finished 9th in the Ram Motorsports/GwR Australia Mercedes, with the GT4 battle going the way of the Harrolds Racing #102 Mercedes AMG GT4 of Cristos Batzios and Sam Brabham, ahead of the Mark Griffith/Declan Fraser driven Daimler Trucks Brisbane #19 Mercedes GT4.
Sunday’s race 2 started in treacherous conditions as rain continued to pound the Sandown circuit. The run into turn 1 saw Garth Tander lead in the #1 The Bend Motorsport Park Audi R8 from Shane Van Gisbergen’s #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes AMG, but an out-of-control moment from van Gisbergen, aquaplaning under brakes on the entry to turn 1, saw him remarkably gather it up and exit turn 1 in the lead. Spins on the first lap for Ross Poulakis in the #101 Harrolds Racing Mercedes AMG and Garth Walden in the #45 Ram Motorsports/GWR Australia Mercedes AMG at the penultimate corner brought out the safety car.
Conditions continued to deteriorate while the safety car was out, and once the race went green again, there were puddles of standing water around the circuit. Coming through turn 6, first van Gisbergen, then Tander had moments of oversteer, before David Reynolds in the #24 C-Tech Laser Audi R8 and Paul Stokell in the #2 KFC Audi R8 both spun through the fast complex of corners, coming to rest before turn 9. This brought out the safety car again, with continuing rain causing a suspension of the race.
The race was restarted under safety car with 22 minutes remaining, with the call from race control to run under SC until conditions improved, with the pit window opening after one green flag lap of racing. The rain finally broke with around 15 minutes remaining, with the restart being called with 8 minutes remaining.
On the restart, Shane Van Gisbergen shot from the lead and started to extend a gap to offset the additional 5 seconds he would have to take in the #888’s compulsory pit stop compared to Tander in the #1. Tander, along with Fraser Ross in the #20 Coinspot Audi and much of the rest of the field came into the pits with 4 minutes remaining, giving Yasser Shahin and Liam Talbot two laps to finish the race, while van Gisbergen and Reynolds came in a lap later, leaving Prince Jefri Ibrahim and Tony Bates only one lap to race.
Ibrahim emerged from the pits in the lead of the race, with the #24 C-Tech Laser Audi R8 of Bates immediately behind. Talbot had exited the pits just ahead of Shahin, and the pair of Audis raged onto the back of the battling leaders. Bates made the move on Ibrahim into turn 6, taking the lead on the last lap of the race, with Shahin and Talbot only moments behind. Coming into the penultimate corner, Bates locked the rears on the river of water still on the track, which saw him spear off into the gravel trap. This left the door open for the chasing pack, with Ibrahim trying to defend the inside line from Shahin and Talbot. Shahin rounded the Audi around the outside, taking the lead onto the final straight, and took the checkered flag. Talbot managed to squeeze his way around Ibrahim on the last corner, finishing in second, with Ibrahim finishing in third place.
Matt Stoupas in the #23 KFC Audi R8 took the Am class in 4th overall, with Bates recovering from his spin to finish in 5th place in the #24 C-Tech Laser Audi R8. Gary Higgon and Paul Stokell in the #2 KFC Audi R8 finished 6th after their early spin, with the #50 M-Motorsport/Vantage Freight KTM X-Bow GT2 of David Crampton and Trent Harrison finishing in 7th. Marc Cini finished third in Am in the #9 Hallmarc Audi R8 in 8th overall, while the GT4 battle went to Declan Fraser and Mark Griffith in the #19 Dailmer Trucks Brisbane Mercedes AMG GT4. Ross Poulakis in the #101 Harrolds Racing Mercedes AMG and Mike Sheargold/Garth Walden in the #45 Ram Motorsports/GWR Australia AMG rounded out the field, with the #102 Harrolds Racing AMG GT4 of Sam Brabham and Cristos Batzios recording a DNF.
The result continues the #1 The Bend Motorsport Park Audi’s streak of alternating second and first placed finishes in the sprint rounds of the GT World Challenge Australia championship, with Shahin and Tander leading the championship with three rounds remaining. The next round of GTWC Australia action is October 21-23, with an Endurance event at The Bend Motorsport Park.
