Liam Talbot and Chaz Mostert have bounced back after a difficult Round 3 to take victory at the first race of the inaugural SRO GT Australia Festival at Phillip Island. Both Talbot and Mostert were untouchable in their respective stints in the #1 Arise Racing Ferrari 296, controlling the race from start to finish, to take victory by six seconds.
Talbot got the holeshot from the pole to lead the field into Turn 1, while a chain reaction of contact down the field saw the #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes of Peter Hackett spun around from fourth in the Southern Loop.
Brad Schumacher in the #87 Shaw And Partners/Kelso Electrical Audi had gotten a poor start from the front row of the grid, and was swallowed up by Mark Rosser’s #81 Team BRM/ACM Finance Audi on the inside, while Paul Stokell in the #181 OnlyFans Audi moved to do the same around the outside.
Schumacher and Stokell made contact, forcing the #181 wide and into the grass on the approach to Turn 1, then when everyone checked up into the braking for Turn 2, the still recovering Stokell tagged the rear of Peter Hackett’s Mercedes, spinning it off the track. Stokell picked up a 15 second time penalty, while the #888 had to get back into the race from last in the field.
It wasn’t long before a Safety Car was called for a second incident, only one lap further in. Paul Lucchitti and Ross Poulakis were battling over 12th place, as Lucchitti attempted to make a move at the Honda Hairpin, sending the #66 Valmont/Tigani Audi up the inside only far enough to tag the right rear of Poulakis’s #14 Volante Rosso Aston Martin, spinning the #14 and breaking the steering of the Audi in the process.
Clearing Lucchitti’s Audi took just under 10 minutes, with Talbot once again leading away from the restart. Brad Schumacher looked to jump Rosser for second into the hairpin, but got in too hot and spun the #87 Audi, dropping to the rear of the field, as the rest of the race settled down ahead of the pit stop sequence.
Once the pit stops had cycled through, Mostert enjoyed a comfortable lead over Alex Peroni now in the #81 Team BRM/ACM Finance Audi, with Jaxon Evans in the #8 Arise Racing Ferrari in third. The fastest car on track though was the #7 Dayle ITM Audi of Brendon Leitch in fourth place, who set a brand new GT3 lap record – a 1:25.5964 – on his way to passing Evans for third, then catching up to the leaders.
However, it would come unstuck late in the race: multiple cars, including the #8 Arise Racing Ferrari and the #7 Dayle ITM Audi suffered right-rear punctures in the late stages of the race, dropping them out of contention. The #8 Arise Racing car ended up finishing down in ninth after a tyre change, while Leitch and the Dayle ITM car dropped down to 14th, finishing a lap down.
It was all immaterial to Mostert however, who cruised to the finish to take a comfortable win for Arise Racing. Peroni and Rosser took second in the #81 Team BRM/ACM Finance Audi, while the #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes took a remarkable third, after their spin on the opening lap.
Fourth was Grove Racing’s #4 Mercedes, while Will Brown’s recovery drive in the #87 Shaw and Partners/Kelso Electrical Audi ended in fifth, stuck behind Brenton Grove for the entire last stint. Sixth was the #181 OnlyFans Audi, who remarkably had a tyre failure on the final corner of the race but managed to cross the line, while the top Am-Class car – the #44 Valmont Racing Audi of Zalloua and Pires – came home in seventh.
Trophy class went to the #222 Scott Taylor Motorsport Porsche after the #38 KMB Motorsport Aston Martin was forced into the garage with electrical issues.
Image courtesy of World Challenge Australia
