Jayden Ojeda and Paul Lucchitti took home victory in the GTWC Australia 3-Hour Enduro under lights at Sydney Motorsport Park on Saturday night. A bold strategy call from the #66 Realta/Tigani Motorsport Mercedes combined with an impressive final stint from Ojeda was enough to hold onto the victory.
Second place was the championship-leading Mostert/Talbot #1 Arise Racing Ferrari 296, who are on the brink of retaining the championship after a DNS to their main rivals – the #87 Kelso Electrical Audi – after Brad Schumacher crashed out of Superpole earlier in the day.
Lucchitti and Ojeda were the only combination able to take advantage of a Safety Car period with just over 80 minutes remaining, thanks to smart pit work earlier in the race clearing Lucchitti’s minimum required drive time.
It still required a herculean final stint from Ojeda to eke out 84 minutes on the final tank of fuel. While the gap behind was whittled away from over a minute’s advantage, Ojeda still had a comfortable 10-second margin at the start of the last lap.
The Realta/Tigani Motorsport team made a bold call early in the race to clear two of their three compulsory timed pit stops and driver changes under the first safety car of the race, which kept them attached to the top end of the field and a pit stop ahead of everyone else on sequence. When a second safety car recompressed the field, Lucchitti was able to gain back track position by staying out of the pits, and by completing his required drive time, the #66 Mercedes was able to take the punt on pitting in the final safety car period as the rest of the field were forced to stay out to fulfil the required drive time for the Am drivers.
The resulting green-flag pit stops gave Ojeda a 70-second buffer over the Arise Racing GT pair of Ferrari 296s with Chaz Mostert’s #1 leading the #8 of Jaxon Evans, with the hard-charging Brendon Leitch in the #7 Dayle ITM Audi closing in on the pair. Mostert was able to take chunks of time out of the fuel-saving Ojeda, but the #66 had enough of a buffer in store, crossing the line to win by 7 seconds over the Mostert/Talbot #1 Ferrari.
Leitch managed to catch Evans with less than 5 minutes on the clock, and crowded the mirrors of the #8 Ferrari with headlights of the #7 Audi down the main straight. Leitch then threw the Audi down the inside at the hairpin at Turn 2, taking the final place on the podium for the #7 Dayle ITM Audi alongside Tim Miles.
The Evans/Schutte #8 Arise Racing Ferrari finished fourth, ahead of the early race-leading #181 OnlyFans Audi of Renee Gracie and Paul Stokell.
The race started with a chaotic opening lap with multiple instances of contact as the 12-car field filed through the opening sector in the setting sun, with the #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes coming off the worst with a puncture in the opening skirmish. It was Stokell from second on the grid who popped out in front, with the #181 OnlyFans Audi leading Talbot’s #1 Arise Racing Ferrari from the opening lap. The pair stretched out to a 12-second lead over third place, as the early battles settled in behind.
It wasn’t long until the first safety car interruption of the race; after 15 minutes of racing, the #81 ACM Finance Audi of Mark Rosser was seen nudging the tyre barrier on the exit of the fast turn 1. Replays showed a massive lose at high speed for Rosser, with the Audi entering the gravel trap backwards at around 200km/h before only just making contact with the tyres.
The Safety Car saw the entire field dive into the pits to clear one of their three compulsory timed pit stops and driver changes, however the Realta/Tigani motorsports team elected to pit again and re-install Paul Lucchitti in the #66 Mercedes, clearing a second pit stop.
With mostly pro-drivers behind the wheel as the race went to green, it was an action-packed period of the race. Chaz Mostert and Brendon Leitch battled at the front of the field, with the New Zealander sending a forceful move at the hairpin at turn 2 to put the #7 Dayle/ITM Audi into the lead of the race, as Brendon Grove passed Jaxon Evans in the battle for third; the #4 Grove Mercedes ahead of the #8 Arise Racing Ferrari.
But there was soon another Safety Car intervention – a spin for the #47 Supabarn Mercedes at the final corner saw the car unable to refire and requiring assistance, with 2:15 remaining on the clock. Once again, most of the field dived in to clear a second pit stop, however, the delayed #888 Triple Eight Mercedes and the #66 Realta/Tigani Mercedes elected to stay out and gain track position.
A miscommunication through the safety car saw the #888 and #66 accidentally given a wave by, effectively putting them a lap ahead of the field under safety car. The safety car period was extended as Motorsport Australia attempted to rectify the situation, which eventually saw the whole field bar the #888 and #66 credited a lap. This returned the #7 Audi to the lead ahead of the #1 Ferrari, with the #888 Mercedes in 5th place and the #66 at the tail end of the top 10.
After a 20 minute caution, the race was back under green, and Liam Talbot wasted no time in passing Tim Miles for the lead of the race. The race settled as everyone was ticking off time until the last sequence of pit stops.
But there was another stoppage with 90 minutes left on the clock. The #44 Valmont Racing Audi was facing backwards on the exit of turn 1 after a spin, and after trying to flick-spin to return to the track, ended up bogged in the grass on the inside of the track.
The timing of the resulting safety car was right on the cusp of being able to get home on a single stint, but only one driver had completed their minimum drive time; Paul Lucchitti. The #66 left it as late as possible, and on the last lap of the safety car, brought the #66 Mercedes in to hand over to Jayden Ojeda, with 84 minutes left in the race.
From there, Ojeda managed the pace and the fuel load, as the cars ahead of him pit to make their final stops. The gap at the end, just 7 seconds.
Taking Am honours was the Pole-Sitting #45 RAM Motorsport/GWR Racing Mercedes of Garth Walden and Mike Sheargold, who recovered from an early race puncture to work their way back up through the pack.
It was a tough day for the other Mercedes teams, with the #4 Grove Racing Mercedes retiring with a suspension issue, while the #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes suffered a similar issue late in the race, but was able to get back on track to take the finish. The biggest losers of the day were the #87 Kelso Electrical/Shaw and Partners Audi of Brad Schumacher and Will Brown, who were unable to make the start after a big crash in Superpole. Schumacher lost the rear of the Audi coming out of the slow turn 6, and spun the Audi into the inside wall, making heavy contact.
Talbot and Mostert extended their lead in the championship in the #1 Arise Racing Ferrari, while the sister #8 car of Schutte and Evans moved into second in the Pro-Am category. GTWC Australia returns in three weeks time for the Bathurst International on the 8th-10th of November.
Image courtesy of GT World Challenge Australia
