The GT World Challenge Australia Championship kicked off it’s 2023 season with a sprint event for its new-look field at Mount Panorama, Bathurst, in support of the Bathurst 6 hour. During the weekend both races were won by the Shannons Insurance Audi of Max Hofer and Liam Talbot, who got their campaign off to a perfect start.
Race 1 got underway under gloomy but clear conditions on Saturday afternoon, with the Am-drivers starting the cars based on lap times from Q1. Liam Talbot in the #65 Shannons Insurance Audi R8 took the holeshot into Turn 1 from Pole, followed off the front row by Brad Schumacher in the #55 Kelso Electrical/Schumacher Motorsport Audi.
There was drama further down the field, with Prince Jefri Ibrahim’s #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes turned around by Mike Bailey in the #96 Hobson Motorsport Mercedes AMG, dropping Ibrahim to the tail of the field and forcing Michael Kokkinos in the #8 Launch Racing Audi to take avoiding action. Both Ibrahin and Kokkinos were able to rejoin the race.
Talbot, Schumacher, and Yasser Shahin in the #1 EMA/The Bend Motorsport Park Porsche pulled a gap from the rest of the field, with Talbot managing the lead of the race until the start of the pit window. Most Pro-Am competitors elected to pit at the opening of the window, leaving the door open for Brad Schumacher to take the lead of the race, before he pit with just under half an hour to go.
He emerged back in second place, between Max Hofer who had been installed in the #65 Shannons Insurance Audi, and Garnet Patterson behind the wheel of the #1 EMA/The Bend Motorsport Park Porsche.
From there, Hofer was untroubled, bringing the #65 Audi home to win by 6.9 seconds. Patterson managed to reel in and pass Schumacher with 18 minutes left on the clock to come home second, with Schumacher finishing in third.
Fourth place went to the Jamec Racing pair of Geoff Emery and Christer Jöns, while fifth and sixth were the pair of Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes, with the #88 Abu Bakar Ibrahim/Jamie Whincup example ahead of the #888 Jefri Ibrahim/Broc Feeney car. The two Triple Eight Mercedes AMGs were the pacesetters of the second stint, coming from the fringe of the top 10 at the start of the stint. They were helped by a second pit stop for the #101 Harrolds Volante Mercedes; a loose wheel nut forced Sam Brabham to the lane from fourth after a strong first stint from Ross Poulakis. Matt Stoupas and Paul Stokell split the Mercedes grouping, bringing their #23 KFC Audi home in seventh.
16-year-old Marcos Flack took home GT3 Cup honours, finishing an impressive 9th in the #78 Sonic Motorsport Porsche GT3 Cup car, while Geoff Taunton took home Invitational class honours with 13th place in the #95 Milldun Motorsport MARC II.
The professional drivers then took the start for Race 2 on a cold but clear Sunday morning, with Jamie Whincup in the #88 Mercedes getting the better of team-mate and polesitter Broc Feeney in the #888 Mercedes at the start, wrapping around the outside to take the lead.
From there, the two Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes AMG’s stretched out a lead over the field, with Hofer in the #65 Audi and Patterson in the #1 Porsche in pursuit. Whincup lead for 3 laps, before allowing the much faster Feeney through on the entry to Murray’s Corner. Much like Race 1, the field stayed relatively stable in the early stages, until the very end of the pit window, which saw every car in the field come into the pits in short succession.
The pair of Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes emerged from the pit stops in the lead, helped by success penalties for the #1 Porsche and #65 Audi after their podiums in race one. However, Yasser Shahin was immediately onto the rear of Abu Bakar Ibrahim in the #88, putting the Porsche on the inside at the Elbow and moving into second place. The fastest driver on track however was Liam Talbot in the #65 Shannons Insurance Audi, who was rapidly reeling in the trio of cars ahead of him, quickly passing Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim in the #88 Mercedes.
Just as Shahin got onto the tail of Prince Jefri Ibrahim at the head of the race, the stewards handed down a pit-lane drive-through penalty to the #1 EMA Motorsport/The Bend Motorsport Park Porsche, as the team had undercut the minimum pit stop time by a second. This dropped Shahin from second place, down into sixth, and left Talbot a straight shot at the lead of the race.
Talbot was almost three seconds a lap faster than Ibrahim in the closing stages, pulling onto the rear of the #888 Mercedes with just over two laps remaining. After poking the nose a few times over the top, Talbot moved to the outside down Conrod Straight, and despite Prince Jefri trying to close the door as the two cars went over the hump, Talbot made the move around the outside into the chase to take the lead. From there, he was never headed, giving he and Max Hofer a perfect start to the championship with a pair of victories in the #65 Shannons Insurance Audi.
Second place was Prince Jefri Ibrahim and Broc Feeney in the #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes, while third was decided on the final lap; embroiled in battle since the pit stops, Brad Schumacher finally managed to put the #55 Schumacher Motorsport Audi through on Geoff Emery in the #75 Jamec Racing Audi at the chase to take a pair of thirds for the weekend.
Shahin managed to recover to fifth in the #1 EMA/The Bend Motorsport Park Porsche he shared with Garnet Patterson, passing Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim late in the race, as he came home in sixth. Once again, Marcos Flack took Trophy honours, piloting the #78 Sonic Motorsport Porsche Cup car to 10th, while the Invitational class once again went to Geoff Taunton in the MARC II Mustang.
With the pair of victories, Liam Talbot and Max Hofer lead the championship in the #65 Audi, as the GTWC Australia resumes at Wanneroo Raceway in WA later in the month, supporting the Supercars championship.
