The #35 Miedecke Motor Group Mustang GT4 of Rylan Gray and George Miedecke has taken victory in the Monochrome GT4 Australia Endurance event at Queensland Raceway, with an alternate strategy play allowing the pair to take advantage of a mid-race Safety Car to move into an unassailable position in the second half of the race.
A safety car to recover the #27 Love Motorsport Mercedes of Rob Love, which spun into the gravel trap at turn 1, played directly into the #35’s long-run strategy, as the Mustang pair was the only team able to take the opportunity to pit under safety car. The pit-stop under Safety Car gave the #35 Mustang a 50 second lead at the start of the last hour – a lead they would hold all the way to the line.
Second and third were the Method Motorsports McLaren Artura GT4’s – the #25 of Flack and Hayman ahead of the #24 of Morcom and McLennan – who were the pace setters for most of the race. Unfortunately for the McLaren duo, a lack of flexibility in their driver-time strategy saw them stuck in no-man’s land when the safety car was called, and unable to combat the #35 Mustang.
Monochrome GT4 Australia’s first Endurance race brought with it three mandatory timed pit stops, with a driver change required at each pit stop and a minimum of 80 minutes for each driver to be classified in the 180 minute race. The seventy-five-second lap of Queensland Raceway against the lengthy minimum pit stop time of over 120 seconds was another factor to consider, with a pit stop also a guarantee of losing a lap to the surrounding teams.
The two McLarens were the early pace setters, stretching out to an 8 second lead in the early stages of the race, as Hayman and McLennan streamed away from the field. The cool morning conditions proved perfect for lap time, with a track record set by McLennan early on of a 1:13.1 – over 8 tenths faster than the best lap from the previous day’s race.
Both McLarens elected to pit early, ducking out of traffic but ceding track position and an early lap to George Miedecke in the #35 Miedecke Motor Group Mustang, with the Mustang electing to run long in the first stint.
And as the first stint went on, Miedecke was metronomic, sitting in the 1:13’s and low 1:14’s for over an hour, before finally bringing the Mustang in for its first stop at the 75 minute mark, almost completing his driver time minimum. Despite the two McLarens – Morcom in the 24 ahead of Flack in the 25 – having lower fuel loads and slightly quicker laps, the Ford, with Gray now behind the wheel, was only a few seconds further back after exiting the pits.
The next round of pit stops was kicked off by the Method Motorsports McLarens once again – this time Morcom pitted from the lead in the #25 McLaren, followed by Flack a lap later. Both cars elected to change four tyres, looking to make the most of a slightly earlier pit stop. Hayman in the #25 was the quicker out of the pits, and made a move around the outside of McLennan in the sister car into turn 3, to take the effective race lead.
That was, until, the safety car was called with just on an hour to go. With an extra pit stop up their sleeve, Gray was able to hand the car back to Miedecke under safety car, and the Mustang was able to sneak out of the lane and back on track ahead of the safety car train, giving Miedecke almost a lap advantage over his two closest competitors.
Once the race went to green, it was a cool, calm, and composed set of stints for first Miedecke, who then handed the car back to Gray to finish off the race, and take a well-strategised win in the Monochrome GT4 Australia Endurance Round.
Second place was the #25 Method Motorsport McLaren of Flack and Hayman, who were the faster of the two Method Motorsport McLarens in the middle stages, overcoming the sister #24 car of Morcom and McLennan, and holding onto the advantage to the end of the race.
Winning in Pro-Am and fourth overall was Matthew McCutcheon and Tony Quinn in the #101 Game Over Porsche Cayman GT4. The pair started from 13th on the grid, and after a great stint from Quinn to start off the race, was always in the mix for Pro-Am honours, eventually prevailing in a battle with the #1 Method Motorsport Porsche Cayman GT4 of Lachie Mineeff and Shane Smollen, when the #1 had to pit late in the race with braking problems.
Fifth overall and second in Pro-Am was the Nash Morris/Mark Griffith Team Nineteen #19 Mercedes AMG GT4, while the Am-Class battle went right to the wire in the last stint. The #32 Randall Racing BMW, with John Bowe at the wheel, had to work hard to hold off the hard-charging Jamie Augustine in the sister #33 Randall Racing BMW, with Augustine pulling back seconds a lap in the late stages of the race. It set up a grandstand finish, with Bowe blocking the move into turn 3, and the final hairpin, to hold on for Am-Class honours by 0.126 of a second.
The next round for Monochrome GT4 Australia is as part of the SRO GT Festival at Phillip Island, later this month, on the 23-25 of August.
Image courtesy of SRO
