GT World Challenge Australia headed to Phillip Island for Round 3 of the championship last weekend, with a 21-car entry list for another sprint round, consisting of two one-hour races, won by Harrolds Volante and Jamec.
The grid included the return of the Invitational class, featuring the debut for the brand-new MARC GT machine. Missing from the entry was both cars from Triple Eight Race Engineering; both Mercedes were committed to GT World Challenge Asia also on this weekend.
However the grid was bolstered by the return of a number of competitors, including Wall Racing, two cars from MARC Cars Australia, Tigani Motorsport adding to the Trophy class, and the return of the Grove Motorsport Porsche for Stephen and Brenton Grove.
Qualifying
Qualifying for Race 1 saw Liam Talbot in the #65 Shannons Insurance Audi continue his strong run of form, taking pole position by over half a second against his chief championship rival in the #1 The Bend Motorsport Park Porsche, Yasser Shahin. Geoff Emery in the #75 Jamec Racing Audi took third, ahead of the leading Am runner, the #55 Schumacher Motorsport Audi of Brad Schumacher. A gearbox issue for Stephen Grove in the #4 Grove Motorsport Porsche saw the car not set a lap, and qualify down in 21st position.
The second qualifying session saw a surprise pole for Jayden Ojeda in the #101 Harrolds Volante Rosso Mercedes, besting the field by almost two tenths of a second to take a maiden pole in the category. He was followed by the #1 The Bend Motorsport Park Porsche of Garnet Patterson, with Dylan O’Keeffe piloting the #10 Myland Audi into third on his return to the series. Fraser Ross, back at the wheel of the #65 Shannons Insurance Audi, put the championship-leading car into 6th place.
Race 1
Shahin from the outside of the front row got the best of the starts in Race 1, piloting the #1 The Bend Motorsport Park Porsche around the outside into Turn 1 to take the lead of the race. He was under significant pressure from Talbot in the #65 Shannons Insurance Audi for the race’s first segment, until a safety car was called with only 5 minutes remaining until the opening of the pit window.
The #22 Melbourne Performance Centre Audi was seen backwards in the grass at Honda Corner, with Ash Samadi suffering damage to the rear of the car, while Andrew Fawcet was also off at the same corner in the #10 Myland Audi. Cameras missed the incident, but it appears there may have been contact, as both cars suffered damage. Samadi managed to creep the #22 Audi back around to the pits, but Fawcet wasn’t as lucky. Fawcet tried to use the grass to stay off track, but encountered a drainage trench, and then beached the car just ahead of pit entry trying to return to the circuit.
Fawcet’s beached Audi brought out the safety car, compressing the almost 10-second gap the leaders had over the chasing pack. Most teams dived into the pits on the first green flag lap, except for the #65 Shannons Insurance Audi of Talbot, who tried to use the clean air to overcome some of their 15 second additional pit time due to their win last time out in Wanneroo.
It would be the #1 The Bend Motorsport Park Porsche with Patterson at the wheel that would emerge in the lead after the pit stops, with Jayden Ojeda in the #101 Harrolds Volante Rosso Mercedes in hot pursuit, while the Groves had come through the field to sit fourth in the #4 Grove Motorsport Porsche, and Ross, now in the #65 Audi, emerging in 8th place.
A second safety car was called with 20 minutes remaining to recover the #6 Wall Racing Lamborghini, which ground to a halt exiting Southern Loop, and pulled to a stop precariously on the inside of Stoner Corner. A great restart from Patterson kept the #1 Porsche safely at the head of the field, but a poor restart for Glen Wood in the #48 M Motorsport Mercedes saw Brenton Grove pounce, taking third with a daring move around the outside into turn 1.
Patterson, Ojeda, and Grove broke away from the field, but Patterson was able to hold off the chasers and crossed the line in first place in the #1 The Bend Motorsport Park Porsche, with Ojeda in the #101 Harrolds Volante Rosso Mercedes and Grove in the #4 Grove Motorsport Porsche rounding out the top three.
However, Patterson was adjudged to have breached the safety car restart regulations and was given a 5-second penalty, dropping the #1 Porsche to 4th in the results, and elevating Ojeda and Poulakis to victory in the #101. Max Hofer put the #75 Jamec Racing Audi into 3rd, also benefiting from the penalty to the #1, while Wood and McMillan just missed out on taking another position, finishing 5.2 seconds behind the #1, but taking 5th in the M Motorsport Mercedes.
Championship leader Talbot and Ross in the #65 Shannons Insurance Audi finished in 6th, ahead of the Am-Class winners of Garth Walden and Mike Sheargold; the #45 RAM Motosport Mercedes holding off Brad Schumacher to win by 8 tenths in Am.
Invitational went to Darren Currie in the #95 MARC II Mustang in 14th, while Renee Gracie took home Trophy honours in the #181 Only Fans Audi.
Race 2
The second race on Sunday saw a carbon copy of the opener at the start, with Garnet Patterson aggressively sweeping across the nose of the pole sitter to put the #1 The Bend Motorsport Park Porsche into the lead, ahead of Jayden Ojeda in the #101 Harrolds Volante Rosso Mercedes. Ojeda struggled early, with the gap ballooning out to 2 seconds on the opening lap, before Ojeda was able to settle into a rhythm, and bring himself back onto the rear bumper of the leading Porsche midway through the stint, pulling Max Hofer in the #75 Jamec Racing Audi with him.
Ojeda looked the fastest of the three, and threw a spontaneous move to the inside of Honda Corner to take the lead as the pit window opened. The top three would remain static until the pit stops, with movement down the order as the #65 Shannons Insurance Audi of Fraser Ross and Liam Talbot came in slightly earlier, giving Talbot the opportunity to undercut those ahead.
The plan worked for the #65, with Talbot able to sweep around the outside of Yasser Shahin in the #1 The Bend Motorsport Park Porsche as Shahin exited the pit lane. Shahin was also jumped by the #75 Jamec Racing Audi and the #48 MMotorsport Mercedes, due to a 15 second longer pit stop for crossing the line first in Race 1, despite the penalty from race 1 dropping them off the podium.
This left the #75 Jamec Racing Audi of Geoff Emery out in front with a comfortable 8-second lead over the #101 Harrolds Volante Rosso Mercedes of Ross Poulakis, just ahead of Justing McMillan in the #48 Motorsport Mercedes. Talbot and Shahin were wrapped in battle for 5th, 5 seconds back from McMillan, with Stephen Grove in the #4 Grove Motorsport Porsche a further 4 seconds behind after a good stint from Brenton Grove saw the #4 come up 13 places in the opening half of the race.
Talbot and Shahin worked their way through the field, first dispatching McMillan, before raging onto the back of Poulakis with 14 minutes left. As the pair caught the #101 Mercedes, Talbot hesitated into Honda corner, opening the door for Shahin to plunge down the inside of the Audi. The two cars made contact, with Shahin forcing Talbot wide on the exit of the corner, to take third place. The move was immediately referred to the stewards, who handed down a 5-second penalty to the #1 Porsche, making it their second penalty in as many days.
Shahin pressed on, passing Poulakis for second around the outside of Honda Corner the following lap, before setting out to stretch the gap to Talbot to try and retain second place. Talbot managed to follow Shahin through into third, and held a comfortable gap behind, to safely keep himself within 5 seconds of the penalised Porsche.
The pair set a cracking pace to the finish, but were unable to reel in the #75 Jamec Racing Audi, with Geoff Emery taking his first win of the season. Shahin crossed the line second, but the 5-second penalty dropped him to third in the #1 The Bend Motorsport Park Porsche, with the #65 Shannons Insurance Audi of Ross and Talbot slotting into second. Poulakis held on to 4th in the #101 Harrolds Volante Rosso Mercedes, while the Groves recovered from last on the grid to 5th place in the #4 Grove Motorsport Porsche.
Brad Schumacher took home Am-class honours, piloting the #55 Kelso Electrical Audi to 6th overall, while Invitational once again went to the #95 MARC Cars Australia MARC II Mustang of Darren Currie, finishing a lap of the MARC GT. Renee Gracie completed a double victory in the Trophy classn, while there were two non-finishers: Garth Walden pulled the #45 RAM Motorsport Mercedes into the garage at the end of lap 1 with a damaged radiator, while the #6 Wall Racing Lamborghini didn’t take the start after their dramas in race 1.
After swapping from the #65 Shannons Insurance Audi to the #75 Jamec Racing Audi for this round, Max Hofer now leads the GTWC Australia Driver’s Championship outright, sitting on 115 points with 4 wins under his belt from 6 races. Geoff Emery sits second with 103 points, with Liam Talbot just behind on 101.
GT World Challenge Australia takes a two-month break before the next round of the championship, supporting the Supercars Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park on July 28-30.
Images courtesy of World Challenge Australia
