GTWC Australia went out west to Wanneroo Raceway just outside of Perth for Round 2 of the championship, with 16 cars on the entry list as GTWC Australia supported the Australian Supercars Championship.
Supercars commitments for Broc Feeney saw Richie Stanaway come into the #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering, while Audi ace Christopher Mies was drafted into the #75 Jamec Racing Audi alongside Geoff Emery. Tony Bates in the #24 Tony Bates Racing Mercedes, Ross Poulakis in the #101 Harrolds Racing Mercedes, and Justin McMillan in the #48 M Motorsport Mercedes had new co-drivers; Jordan Love jumping into the #24, Jayden Ojeda slotting into the #101, and long-time M-Motorsport driver Glen Wood into the #48.
The grid also saw the addition of Renee Gracie in the #181 Only Fans Audi; the former Super 2 driver making a return to racing in the Trophy class.
Qualifying for both races were held in cool conditions as the first track action on Saturday morning, with the notoriously sandy Wanneroo track forcing multiple warm-up laps from the Am drivers in Q1 as the track cleared and the tyres came up to temp. Liam Talbot in the #65 Shannons Insurance Audi was the first to set a lap in anger, which kicked off an all-Audi stoush for the pole position between himself, Brad Schumacher in the #55 Kelso Electrical Audi, and Geoff Emery in the #75 Jamec Racing Audi.
In the end, Emery would grab pole by three tenths, setting a 53.860 ahead of Talbot and Schumacher. Yasser Shahin slotted in fourth in the #1 The Bend Motorsport Park Porsche, ahead of the pair of Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes AMG’s; Abu Bakar ahead of his brother Jefri in 5th and 6th.
The Pro-driver Qually 2 saw the preceding GT qualifying record at Wanneroo broken by the top 4 cars, with Max Hofer putting the #65 Shannons Insurance Audi on pole with a 53.1593. Jamie Whincup in the #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes qualified second, over a tenth and a half back, followed by Jordan Love in the #24 Tony Bates Racing Mercedes AMG. Christopher Mies completed the top 4 in the #75 Jamec Racing Audi, with a lap that was two tenths down on the leader, despite breaking the previous qualifying record.
Race 1
Race 1 saw a great start from Liam Talbot in the #65 Shannons Insurance Audi to jump into the lead from the front row, pulling out to a 3 second gap by the end of lap two. Pole-sitter Geoff Emery headed the remainder of the pack, with Shahin, Schumacher, Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim and Prince Jefri Ibrahim all in pursuit in the early stages of the race. Talbot stretched the lead to almost 5 seconds over Emery, until a moment at the final corner saw Talbot fire through the gravel trap. Luckily, he was able to skate out the other side, but at the cost of the entire lead he had built up, returning to the track behind Emery, in second place.
Lapped traffic began to play a part around the short Wanneroo circuit, with spins and contact down the field spreading the grid more than expected. The leading pack approached the delayed Justin McMillain in the #48 M Motorsport Mercedes AMG into the last corner, and while Emery in the leading #75 Jamec Racing Audi managed to squeeze through, an attempt by Talbot to follow Emery through on the inside saw him make side-to-side contact with McMillan. The contact broke the rear left corner of Talbot’s Audi, which spun on the entry to turn 1, forcing Brad Schumacher in the #55 Kelso Electrical Audi to come to a stop to avoid the spinning car. Talbot made it back to the pits, but the #65 Audi was retired from the race, while McMillan pulled off track and retired the car.
The chaos in traffic left Emery and Shahin in the #1 The Bend Motorsport Park Porsche at the head of the field before the pit stop window opened. The #75 Jamec Racing Audi had an additional 5 seconds added to their pit stop time as a success adjustment from the last round, which saw Christopher Mies exit the pits in third place, 3 seconds behind Garnet Patterson in the #1 Porsche and just behind Jamie Whincup in the #88 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes.
Patterson managed the gap over the last stint of the race, taking victory for himself and Shahin, and Porsche’s first GT3 win in Australia since 2019.
Whincup and Mies held an enthralling battle to the flag, with the German ace swarming Whincup’s Mercedes, but unable to find a way through, as Whincup held on for second, and Mies having to settle for third. The fastest driver on track in the last stint was Richie Stanaway in the #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes, cutting a 10 second gap in half over the last part of the race to finish fourth.
The lead Am-class car was the #55 Kelso Electrical Audi of Brad Schumacher, finishing 5th, ahead of the #101 Harrolds Volante Rosso Mercedes and the #24 Tony Bates Racing Mercedes after both received 15 second post-race penalties. Am-class cars rounded out the 10, with the #23 KFC Audi finishing ahead of the #22 Melbourne Performance Centre Audi, and #45 RAM Motorsport Mercedes, which was relegated to 10th after contact between Walden and Samadi spun the #22 at the last corner. Hobson Motorpsort finished in 11th, ahead of Renee Gracie in the #181 Only Fans Audi, with the delayed #8 Launch Racing Audi in 13th and Mark Griffith rounding out the finishers in his #19 Griffith Corp Mercedes GT4.
Race 2
Race 2 once again saw the #65 Shannons Insurance Audi take the lead from the front row, this time at the hands of Max Hofer. Jordan Love in the #24 Tony Bates Racing Mercedes muscled his way into second, as Jamie Whincup in the #88 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes ran wide at turn 1, with Christopher Mies in the #75 Jamec Racing Audi right on his tail yet again. Hofer got to work stretching out a 3 second lead at the front of the race, while Mies once again terrorised the rear of Whincup’s Mercedes. Mies finally made the move around the outside of turn 1, and immediately got onto the tail of Jordan Love for second place, which he made short work of, doing the switchback into turn 1 after a great run out of the final corner.
Traffic once again was an issue for the front runners, with lapped cars unwilling to give up the ideal line and deal with the sandy limits of the Wanneroo tarmac. Mies made contact with the read of Michael Kokkinos’ Launch Racing Audi on the entry to turn 6, as Kokkinos elected to hold the inside line after lapping the #19 Griffith Corp Mercedes GT4. Luckily, both cars negotiated the corner. The same couldn’t be said for an incident between the #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes of Richie Stanaway and the #22 Melbourne Performance Centre Audi of Ash Samadi; the Audi making the gravel at turn 1 after contact with the Mercedes spun the car. Samadi managed to return to the track, and the contact was deemed a racing incident by officials.
The pit stop cycle saw the #65 extend its lead at the head of the field, while the #75, #88 and #1 cars dropped down the order thanks to their pit stop adjustment from the results of race 1. This left Talbot in the Shannons Insurance Audi out in front to the tune of 12 seconds ahead of Geoff Emery in the #75 Jamec Racing Audi, who had a small gap ahead of the #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes of Prince Jefri Ibrahim.
There was action down the field with the #88 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes of Abu Bakar Ibrahim dropping in just behind Ross Poulakis in the #101 Harrolds Volante Rosso Motorsport Mercedes in a battle for 5th place. Poulakis putting up a great defence, until nose-to-tail contact under braking for the uphill left-hander at turn 4 saw both Mercedes into the grass; The #88 emerging ahead, but with damage to the front left corner, and both cars lost out to the #1 The Bend Motorsport Park Porsche of Yasser Shahin.
The #88 was involved in another incident later in the race, this time with the #24 Tony Bates Racing Mercedes with Bates at the wheel. Abu Bakar tried to squeeze the nose of his Mercedes up the inside on entry to turn 5, resulting in contact with the rear right of Bates’ Mercedes, spearing the #24 off track to driver’s left and over the gravel trap. Luckily, the #24 came to a stop before the concrete wall, and Bates was able to return to the track. The stewards handed down a 15 second penalty to the #88 Mercedes after the incident.
The top three remained untroubled through the second half of the race, with Talbot and Hofer taking a comfortable victory over Emery and Mies, and Prince Jefri Ibrahim and Stanaway. Yasser Shahin was the big mover in the second half of the race, coming up from 7th position to finish 4th in the #1 The Bend Motorsport Park Porsche as the last car on the lead lap. Brad Schumacher once again finished 5th in the #55 Kelso Electrical Audi, ahead of the recovering #101 Harrolds Volante Rosso Mercedes of Ross Poulakis. The penalty for the #88 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes dropped them down to 6th, with the #24 Tony Bates Racing Mercedes, #23 KFC Audi, and #48 M Motorsport Mercedes completing the top 10.
Despite the DNF in race 1 of the weekend, Liam Talbot and Max Hofer lead the GTWC Australia championship in the #65 Shannons Insurance Audi, ahead of Yasser Shahin and Garnet Patterson in the #1 The Bend Motorsport Park Porsche. Geoff Emery sits third in the #75 Jamec Racing Audi, with the pair of Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes rounding out the top 5; Prince Jefri Ibrahim ahead of the Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim and Jamie Whincup pair.
GTWC Australia heads to Phillip Island on May 12-14 for round 3, as part of the SpeedSeries.
