GT World Challenge Australia
Holdsworth and Cini Boost GT World Challenge Australia Entry For Sandown
GT World Challenge Australia will welcome a new entry at this weekend’s GT Festival Sandown, with Marc Cini and Lee Holdsworth confirmed.
The pair will be behind the wheel of the Hallmarc/Team MPC Audi R8 LMS Evo II and will contest the Pro-Am class for the first time.
The pair have contested the Bathurst 12 Hour together for many years alongside Dean Fiore (including a class podium and 11th overall this year), while this month’s Sandown event will be the first time Cini and Holdsworth compete together outside the popular endurance event.
Holdsworth has competed in Supercars for more than a decade, while also standing on the top step of the famous Bathurst 1000 podium in 2021 alongside last year’s GT World Challenge Australia Pro-Am Champion, Chaz Mostert.
Cini has the more recent GT World Challenge Australia experience of the two, having contested most of the 2024 season and several selected rounds each year since 2021, his most successful season being 2021, where he secured multiple Am Cup race wins.
Marc Cini: “I am looking forward to it. I’m doing it with Lee Holdsworth, as we always do the 12 Hour together, so it’ll be a bit of fun getting together,” said Cini.
“We’re good friends and we know each other very well. And we fit in the same seat, which is always good. I am also excited to run in the Audi, as it’s a lovely car to drive.
“Right now, I’m just picking and choosing a few rounds this year and it’s a convenient round for us to do at Sandown.
“We don’t really have any expectations for the weekend because I haven’t raced in Pro-Am with that field other than the 12 Hour, which is completely different, so we’ll see after the first couple of practice sessions how we’re going.
“GT World Challenge Australia is going very well, so it will be good to be part of that. SRO Motorsports Australia seem to be doing a good job and hopefully they’ll build from that. I wish them all the best.”
Lee Holdsworth: I’ve done the Bathurst 12 Hour every year since 2016 with Marc Cini and Dean Fiore in the Audi, so I’m familiar with the car, but it’s my first appearance in the GT World Challenge Australia and I’ve never raced a GT car at Sandown, so I am excited,” said Holdsworth.
I really enjoy being with the MPC team and driving with Marc. I love the car – it’s amazing to drive and Sandown is a great track for it.
It’s always a bit of a process getting used to the Audi – especially since I haven’t been in it since February. It takes a little bit to adapt to the seat being on the opposite side, but hopefully muscle memory kicks in from earlier in the year.
I’m just going out to have a bit of fun and enjoy the weekend being back in a race car. Hopefully we have a clean run and bring home a decent result.
Looking forward to getting on track with Marc and MPC. It will be a great weekend together and we’ll do our best to bring home a trophy and also sharpen up in the lead-up to the Supercars enduros.
Monochrome GT4 Australia
Dad & Lad Nathan And Jay Murray Combine
Monochrome GT4 Australia will welcome a debutant at GT Festival Sandown this weekend with Jay Murray to join father Nathan in the McElrea-prepared Morris BMW M4 GT4 G82 EVO for the rest of the season.
With Nathan having tackled the opening three rounds of the 2025 season solo with the idea that Jay would join him from Sandown onwards, the teenager has now completed a number of successful tests and proven he is ready to join his father.
Not only will GT Festival Sandown be Jay’s Monochrome GT4 Australia debut, it will be his first ever drive in a car after the youngster graduated from karting only earlier this year.
Jay has had an impressive rise up the ranks since making a late start to motorsport, with a three-year junior career mostly spent in karting, highlighted by a range of top 10 finishes in the KZ2 class both within Australia and New Zealand.
Multiple tests this year under the watchful eye of Andy McElrea ended up a major success and the teenager proved his capabilities behind the wheel – giving both McElrea and Nathan the confidence he will be competitive.
Camilleri Switches from AMG To Mustang
Jake Camilleri will make the switch from the Mercedes-AMG GT4 to the Ford Mustang GT4 for the rest of the Monochrome GT4 Australia 2025 season, starting off with this week’s GT Festival Sandown.
The experienced driver has been behind the wheel of the Mercedes since the start of last year and has picked up a number of strong results in that time, however, Gomersall Motorsport having a second Mustang led to the switch being made.
The decision to go to Ford was not made due to performance, but due to convenience and the benefits of running the same two cars within the series.
“It’s quite sad to move on from the Mercedes, but we are excited to move to the Ford Mustang as it’s proven to be a strong car in GT4,” Camilleri said.
“With that said, it makes more sense for us as a team to utilise the two Ford Mustangs as it allows us to share data and work together to get the best results.
Quinn and McCutcheon Reunited
Tony Quinn and Matt McCutcheon will reunite at next week’s GT Festival Sandown with the pair confirmed to race the Keltic Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO 2 together in the fourth round of the 2025 Monochrome GT4 Australia season.
Quinn and McCutcheon last teamed up in the series at last year’s Queensland Raceway event where they enjoyed an impressive victory on the Sunday behind the wheel of the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 MR CS 1.
The pair will once again tackle the Silver-Am class at next week’s visit to Sandown, however there will be plenty of new learnings for the incoming McCutcheon, who is yet to drive the Toyota GR Supra GT4 or race at the famous Victorian circuit.
Although he hasn’t had any experience in the Supra, McCutcheon is quite familiar with the Toyota marque itself, having won races in the Toyota 86 Racing Series – the first coming in his rookie season in the popular category.
Outside of that, McCutcheon has proven to be a race winner in many of the categories he has contested, which includes an impressive runner-up finish in New Zealand’s 2020/21 Formula Ford season.
That breakout season caught the eye of both Supercars legend Shane van Gisbergen and Quinn himself, with the former taking him on as a protégé and the latter offering a scholarship to the Tony Quinn Foundation in 2022.
McCutcheon is the third driver to sit alongside Quinn in Monochrome GT4 Australia this year, with fellow New Zealanders Hugo Allan and Chris White having each enjoyed good weekends themselves.
