GTWC Australia headed north for Round 3 of the championship, taking place at Queensland Raceway. The winter getaway produced great conditions for the 14-car grid – two fewer than at the last round of the championship; the #15 Volante Rosso McLaren of Hunt/Emery did not take part due to the car’s major sponsor failing to meet their funding obligations, while the Patterson/JP Drake Audi’s partial campaign saw them miss this round.
There were a few minor changes in the entry list too – the #268 BRM Audi saw the return of Alex Peroni, taking his regular seat after sitting out the first two rounds with an injury, while team owner Justin Tigani stepped into the #56 Kollosche AMG by Tigani Mercedes to replace Shane Smollen, who missed the weekend with business obligations.
It certainly didn’t hamper the team, with Oscar Targett putting the #56 Mercedes on pole in the drying qualifying 1, setting a 1:08.4550 ahead of the #44 Geyer Valmont Tigani Mercedes of Leitch to secure an all Tigani Mercedes front row. It was a matter of who could do their best lap last, as overnight rain meant that the still drying track was improving lap on lap, with the AMG’s the best placed to maximise the best of the track conditions.
Qualifying 2 was an even more impressive showing for Tigani, with Justin – on his first drive in the GT3 Mercedes AMG – putting the #56 Kollosche Mercedes on pole, with a 1:07.5870, just 0.04 ahead of second-placed Renee Gracie in the #181 OnlyFans Audi – her best qualifying result in GTWC Australia. It was an extremely congested front of the field, with the gap between third (Pires, #44 Geyer Valmont Mercedes AMG) and fifth (Schutte, #26 Arise Racing GT Ferrari) only five thousandths of a second.
Race 1
By Saturday afternoon, the warm conditions had completely dried the track. Unfortunately, there was drama before the race had even started, as the #88 Wolfbrook Motorsport Audi refused to take off from the grid and had to be recovered to the pits. Steve Brooks told the broadcast that the car had “no spark”, as the team worked to replace the battery in the pits.
As the now 13-car field took the start, it was Mark Rosser from the fourth row who got a blinder of a launch, threading his #268 Team BRM Audi through the grid to head into turn 1 side-by-side with the 4th placed #1 Kelso Electrical Audi of Schumacher, while Tigani maintained his lead through the first corner. It was a frantic first lap, with Rosser and Schumacher trading paint and positions, before Rosser secured 4th and attempted to gain third from Pires in the #44 Mercedes, while an incident further down the field brought out the Safety Car.
Heading into the tight turn 6 hairpin, there was contact between Elliot Schutte’s #26 Arise Racing GT Ferrari and the #2 Trading Garage Audi of Darren Currie, which saw the green Audi spun to the inside and stuck on the sodden grass. Despite Currie’s best efforts, he was unable to move the Audi, which then required recovery. Schutte was deemed at fault for the incident, with the stewards handing down a 30-second penalty post-race.
On the restart, Tigani came under immediate pressure from Gracie. Gracie sized up a move at Turn 4, and put the #181 OnlyFans Ferrari into the lead, and began easing out a gap to the pair of Mercedes behind.
Gracie handed the Ferrari over to Will Davison in the pit stops, with the team returning the #181 to the track in the lead, with a 4-second gap over the pair of Tigani Mercedes AMGs – #56 just ahead of #44 – while the #26 Arise Racing GT Ferrari jumped to fourth in the pit sequence.
Davison drove a faultless stint and was never in danger as the battle for second raged on behind, bringing the #181 OnlyFans Ferrari home to win by just under 4 seconds and delivering a maiden GTWC Australia victory for himself and Gracie.
The two Tigani Motorsports Mercedes rounded out the podium – the Targett/Tigani #56 from the #44 Leitch/Pires – while the penalty for the #26 Arise Racing Ferrari dropped them from fourth down to eighth, and promoted the #1 Kelso Electrical and #268 Team BRM Audi’s into the top 5. The Trophy class was taken by the #71 AED Consulting by Tigani Porsche of Youlden and Halstead, by 5 seconds over the #24 KFC Audi.
Race 2
Sunday Morning’s Race 2 got underway in enthralling fashion, with the two Tigani Mercedes AMG’s running side-by-side on the run into Turn 1. It was Brendan Leitch from the outside of the front row who popped out ahead, putting the #44 Geyer Valmont Tigani Mercedes into the lead, with Oscar Targett’s #56 Kollosche AMG into second. Leitch immediately set about stretching a lead to offset the additional 5s the #44 would need in the pits due to the podium in race 1, and Targett was an effective cork in the bottle, keeping the battling pack behind.
The pressure threatened to boil over in the following pack, with Broc Feeney (#1 Kelso Electrical Audi), Ryan Wood (#88 Wolfbrook Audi), Jaxon Evans (#26 Arise Racing Ferrari), and Jayden Ojeda (#66 Move My Wheels Mercedes) all jostling for any opening behind Targett, while further down the pack, Josh Buchan picked up a right-rear puncture in the #23 Zagame Autosport Ferrari, bringing him into the lane.
Wood clearly had pace on Feeney ahead, and tried to muscle the #88 Audi through at Turn 4. He made contact with the rear of the #1 Audi, pushing Feeney slightly wide, but Wood elected to get off the throttle and allow Feeney back into line.
It wouldn’t be the same situation a few laps later; Feeney was forced to check up behind Targett, and ran slightly wide in the middle of turn 4. Wood seized the opportunity, putting the nose of the #88 to the inside of the #1 Audi as the pair approached turn 5. The slightest of bumps on corner entry sent the #1 wide, and Feeney took to the grass and dropped into fourth place.
All of the battling allowed Leitch to build a 6.5-second lead at the field; enough to give the #44 Geyer Valmont Mercedes over to Pires in the lead with a gap of a second over the chasing pack behind. It was Elliot Schutte in the #26 Arise Racing GT Ferrari that exited the pits in second place, followed by the #88 Wolfbrook Audi of Steve Brooks. Brooks was quickly into second, as Schutte ran wide through the high-speed turn 2, touring the grass before dropping behind the Audi.
Still in the pits, though, was the #1 Kelso Electrical Audi. The door latch had failed, with the team initially taping the door shut, before being forced to replace the door entirely in the pit lane. The replacement saw the at-the-time championship-leading #1 Audi drop 2 laps down, and out of contention.
Pires managed the gap out front and was steady in keeping the #44 Geyer Valmont Mercedes on track, bringing the car home to claim the second victory for the #44 for the season. Wood and Brooks brought the #88 Wolfbrook Audi home second, while Schutte and Evans were third in the #26 Arise Racing Ferrari.
The #66 Move My Wheels by Tigani Mercedes of Ojeda and Lucchitti was fourth, while the #268 Team BRM Audi was fifth – a great recovery after starting second last. The #1 Kelso Electrical Audi finished the race in 13th, and 10th in class – good enough for a single point.
The winning trophy was the #71 AED Consulting by Tigani Porsche, completing a comfortable clean sweep of the weekend for Halstead and Youlden.
With their second win of the season, Pires and Leitch move the #44 Geyer Valmont Mercedes to the top of the GTWC Australia Pro-Am standings on 85 points, leading their Tigani Motorsports stablemates in the #66 Move My Wheels car, Ojeda and Lucchitti, by 9 points. The reigning champions sit in third place on 73 points after an extremely difficult weekend for the #1 Kelso Electrical Audi.
GTWC Australia continues its top-end tour with a debut for the series at Hidden Valley, Darwin, on the 24th- 26th of July.
Image courtesy of GT World Challenge Australia/Jack Martin
