Mark Rosser and Alex Peroni have bounced back from a difficult Race 1 to take victory in Race 2 at Queensland Raceway, winning by less than half a second. Rosser had to manage two late safety-car restarts, with the final restart setting up a 2-lap dash to the line.
Rosser got the #268 Team BRM Audi clean off the final corner exit, and held enough of a gap to never allow an opening to the chasing pack, led by the #7 Dayle ITM Audi of Tim Miles. Brad Schumacher rounded out an Audi 1-2-3, bringing the #888 Kelso Electrical car home in third place.
Race 2 saw the Pro-drivers take the first stint, and a great start from Peroni in the #268 from second on the grid saw him round up the pole-sitting #888 and take the lead into turn 1, with the #66 Realta/Tigani Motorsport Mercedes of Ojeda following Peroni through to take second place.
An early safety car to recover the #111 Racing Mercedes from the turn 1 gravel caused a stir in race control, as it appeared that the leading #268 Audi was going too slow at the call of the restart. The team have argued that the SC lights went out in the middle of the tight Turn 4, making it impossible to have been on the mandated 80km/h required until after the corner. The procedure was noted for a post-race investigation, but in the end no changes were made to the result.
Peroni held the pack at bay as the pit stops approached, safe in the knowledge that both the #66 Realta/Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG and the #888 Kelso Electrical Audi would require extra time in the pit stops due to their successes in Race 1. This enabled Team BRM to turn around the #268 relatively stress-free, returning Rosser to the lead by over 10 seconds.
The battle for second was headed up by Steve Wyatt, who had jumped up in the #77 Arise Racing Ferrari. It wasn’t long before he was under pressure, with the #66 Mercedes of Lucchitti, then the #7 and #888 Audis queueing up behind. Lucchitti attempted to pass Wyatt at Turn 3, but shoved the Mercedes into the gravel, dropping down the order to sixth. Later, first Miles, then Schumacher made their way past Wyatt to slot into the podium spots, still 10 seconds behind Rosser out in front.
But that lead was wiped out in an instant as the Safety Car was called with 10 minutes left. Gary Higgon’s #24 KFC Audi had ended up in the Turn 1 gravel trap, requiring extraction, and the resulting safety car brought the pack right onto Rosser’s bumper for the sprint to the line.
Rosser made no mistakes as the green flag flew with 5 minutes left, but only 4 corners later, there would be another Safety Car interruption. The #1 Volante Rosso Aston Martin, already a lap down after an issue firing in the pits, had spun and stalled at Turn 4, and Liam Talbot struggled to get the car fired up. He finally got the Aston Martin rolling just as the field rounded him up, slotting fourth in line, now 2 laps down.
This set up a 2-lap dash to the line, with Rosser once again nailing the restart and jumping just far enough away from the field. He was helped by Talbot, who passed Schumacher on track, and hassled the rear of Miles to keep both looking in the rearview mirror instead of ahead.
This gave the #268 Team BRM Audi enough of a gap to not give Miles an opening, and Rosser crossed the line to take a first win of the season, subject to the outcome of the post-race investigation.
Miles and Leitch bounced back from their incident in Race 1 to take second in the #7 Dayle ITM Audi, while Schumacher and Feeney had to settle for third in the #888 Kelso Electrical Audi. Championship leaders Schutte and Evans brought the #26 Arise Racing Ferrari home in 5th, behind the #77 Team Car in fourth.
Am class went to Renee Gracie in the #181 OnlyFans Audi, in 7th overall, while the #24 KFC Audi took home Trophy Class honours as the only classified finisher, as the #71 AED Consulting Porsche retired in pit lane.
The Arise Racing pair of Jaxon Evans and Elliot Schutte leave Queensland with their championship lead cut down to 22 points, after the double-podium for Schumacher and Feeney, now comfortably second in the championship.
GTWC Australia resumes for Round 4 at Sandown Raceway, on the 25th-27th of July.
Image courtesy of SRO
