The #44 Valmont Tigani Mercedes AMG of Sergio Pires and Brendon Leitch took a lights-to-flag victory in today’s GTWC Australia race at The Bend Motorsport Park. Pires led from the race start, holding off the chasing pack, before handing the car over to Leitch with some new tyres to the finish, controlling the second half of the race to win by 1.6 seconds.
“I’m pretty happy with that day,” Pires said post-race. “That’s my best drive in terms of putting it all together.
“Pole position, a good start, and having the pace the whole way through. Brendon took the car and brought it home perfectly. That’s a good day.”
“Serge [Pires] did all the hard work and heavy lifting,” Leitch said. “It was an amazing first stint. He executed perfectly – I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
“I was having so much fun. I was having so much fun – it was probably pretty boring for everyone watching, but it was such a joy.”
It’s Pires’ first overall win in GTWC Australia, after stepping up from the Am-Class to Pro-Am this season.
After earning pole position by only 0.0173 in this morning’s Qualifying 2, Pires converted his maiden pole position into the lead through the first corner, holding off Brad Schumacher’s #1 Kelso Electrical Audi. Despite Schumacher looking very fast, the Audi couldn’t find a way around Pires’ Mercedes AMG in the early stages.
In trying to force the pace, Schumacher ran wide through the triple-right hander through turns 8, 9 and 10, and dipped a wheel in the grass. That was enough to unsettle the rear of the Audi, causing Schumacher to spin and drop from second down to fourth.
That gave Pires some breathing room in the lead, and he handed over to Leitch with a three-second margin over the #268 Castrol Team BRM Audi of Mark Rosser and Thomas Randle. Randle brought the gap down slowly, but couldn’t make proper inroads into Leitch’s lead.
Leitch managed it perfectly to the line, holding off Randle to take the win. Third was the #26 Arise Racing GT Ferrari 296 of Evans and Schutte, with Evans holding off a recovering Feeney in the #1 Kelso Electrical Audi in the late stages of the race.
The battle for 5th saw Will Davison in the #181 OnlyFans Audi holding off the #88 Wolfbrook Audi of Ryan Wood, with the #66 Move My Wheels Tigani Mercedes of Ojeda just behind.
The top 10 was rounded out by the #666 Team BRM Audi, the #56 Kollosche AMG by Tigani Mercedes, then the #23 Zagame Ferrari, with the #2 Trading Garage Audi just outside the 10.
Winning the Trophy battle was the #24 KFC Audi of Stokell and Stoupas, finishing a lap ahead of the #71 AED Consulting Porsche and the #14 Volante Rosso Vantage.
After finishing in third, the #26 Arise Racing Ferrari of Evans and Schutte moved into the lead of the GTWC Australia Pro-Am championship by 1 point, over the #1 Kelso Electrical Audi of Feeney and Schumacher.
GTWC Australia resumes tomorrow with Race 2 at The Bend, at 2:10pm local time (ACST, UTC+9:30)
