The Kelso Electrical Audi of Brad Schumacher and Broc Feeney have dominated Race 1 at Queensland Raceway, controlling the first encounter of the weekend with a lights-to-flag victory.
Despite an early Safety Car, Schumacher was untroubled at the restart and handed over to Feeney still in the lead. As the cars behind suffered issues, Feeney was able to run a consistent pace, winning by over 10 seconds.
The weekend’s running at Queensland Raceway has so far been damp and cold, with Friday’s practices affected by rain. Come Saturday morning’s qualifying, the track was still damp, with lap times 8 or so seconds slower than the expected dry pace.
Topping the time sheets was Brad Schumacher, who set a 1:15.876 to lead an Audi 1-2-3 for the grid for race 1. The #888 Kelso Electrical Audi was joined on the front row by Mark Rosser in the #268 Team BRM Audi, then the Dayle ITM #7 of Tim Miles. Leading the Am class was the #181 Onlyfans Audi of Renee Gracie, qualifying an impressive 5th overall in the 14-car grid.
Race 1 got underway in dry conditions under threatening skies, but there was carnage before the field even crossed the control line. Mark Rosser had a terrible getaway from the front row and got swallowed into the pack. As Tim Miles rounded him on the inside, Elliot Schutte in the #26 Arise Racing Ferrari tried to slot in between the two Audis. Unfortunately, Schutte was caught in the squeeze, and both Audis turned across the front of the Ferrari, coming together and crashing 100m into the race.
Luckily, the rest of the field managed to avoid the two stricken Audis. Miles’ #7 Dayle ITM Audi retired on the spot with significant suspension damage, while Rosser managed to continue in the #268 for a few more laps, before retiring in the pits with a broken control arm.
Once the race got back underway, Schumacher was able to stretch a gap over the field, as Pires, Talbot, and Schutte battled over the minor places behind. Heading into the pit sequence, Talbot elected to stay out, hoping to jump his #1 Volante Rosso Aston Martin into second ahead of the #55 Valmont Racing Mercedes of Pires. The plan worked, with Fraser returning to the track just ahead of King in the #55 Mercedes, and just behind Feeney for the lead of the race.
A number of cars drew the ire of Race Control for pit lane infringements; The #26 Arise Racing Ferrari had to take a drive-through for insufficient stationary time, while the second-placed #1 also got pinged for working on the car with the engine running. This dropped both cars down the field, with Evans and Fraser tasked with fighting their way back. They were helped by a technical issue in the #55, as King reported a power steering failure in the Mercedes.
This left no one to challenge the #888, with Feeney comfortably bringing the Kelso Electrical Audi to the flag, over 10 seconds ahead of Jayden Ojeda in the #66 Realta/Tigani Motorsport Mercedes AMG in second. Evans managed to recover the #26 Arise Racing Ferrari into Third, over 40 seconds further back, with the #1 Volante Rosso Aston Martin coming home fourth.
The battle in Am went right down to the wire, with Renee Gracie taking victory in the #181 Only Fans Audi by less than a second over the 111 Racing Mercedes of Currie and Donaldson. Gracie passed Currie with 20 minutes left, and held on for the remainder of the stint as the pair battled to the line.
Third in Am went to the #47 Supabarn Mercedes, who had exited the pits in the lead of the class, but had to take a drive through for a pit lane infringement. Winning Trophy class was the #24 KFC Audi of Stokell and Higgon, in their previous spec Audi R8 LMS.
Race 2 gets underway tomorrow at 12:50 Local Time (AEST).
