Monochrome GT4 Australia joined the GT Festival Sydney for Round 5 of the championship at Sydney Motorsport Park. Saturday’s action featured qualifying for both races in the afternoon, before a twilight race running into the sunset for the GT4 cars, while Sunday would see race 2 in the middle of the day.
The 31 car grid saw new cars and a shuffling of entries, with two additional BMW’s rejoining the series for the first time since Round 2, in the form of the #32 Lawrence Racing BMW and the #222 Team Komo cars, while at Ford, Cam McLeod moved over to the #62 Wallis Motorsport Mustang with Jack Wallis, as the #227 Multispares Mustang was piloted by Tyler Collins and Adam Gowans. Also on the grid over the weekend was a new entry from Catalyst Private Capital, with Charlie Khoudry and Adrian Lee joining the Silver-Am championship in a Porsche Cayman.
Qualifying 1 saw Tom Hayman on top in the #25 Method Motorsport McLaren, heading a McLaren 1-2 ahead of the #114 Team Soutar Motorsport McLaren of William Exton. On the second row was second-placed in the championship Purdie Racing, with Blake Purdie putting the #48 Audi into third, ahead of the lead Silver-Am machine; Zac Soutar’s #75 Tufflift Racing by TSM McLaren.
In qualifying 2, it was more of the same on the front row: the #25 Method Motorsport McLaren and the #114 Team Soutar Motorsport cars 1-2 on the grid, Jett Murray from Jack Johnson. The Purdie Racing Audi was once again on row two, this time in fourth, with the #27 Multispares Racing Mustang of Lochie Dalton taking third place.
Race 1: Team Soutar takes double victory with Silver and Silver-Am class wins
The twilight of Saturday afternoon played backdrop to race 1 of the weekend, with the two McLarens evenly matched from the start. Hayman and Exton were so evenly matched that they ran the entire first sector side-by-side, before the #25 Method Motorsport McLaren edged ahead through turn 5 and Hayman took the lead. Purdie kept close company to the leading pair, latching the #48 Purdie Racing Audi on the back of Exton’s #114 Team Soutar Racing McLaren, while Lachlan Mineef put the #32 Randall Racing BMW into the battle for fourth, and leading the Silver-Am category, from the #27 Multispares Mustang in 5th.
While the race settled up front, the first stint saw chaotic mid-pack battles, with the second half of the top 20 effectively nose-to-tail. A hairy moment for Dixon in the #88 CAMM Quarries/Concrete Toyota coming onto the main straight kicked off a series of moves and counter moves, with Aaron Seton eventually claiming the position from the #88 Toyota, but not before Seton’s #1 Gomersall Motorsport Mustang was passed by McBride’s #71 Exedra Motorsport Toyota. Seton then shuffled back past both Toyotas in a skirmish that lasted all the way to the pit window.
The pit window mixed the field up as early stoppers filtered back onto the track and each class applied their success penalties from the last round. By virtue of finishing off the podium last time out, the #114 Team Soutar Motorsport McLaren decided to stay out as long as possible, with William Exton maximising the clear track advantage, and handing the car over to Jack Johnson at the head of the field and with a 12.6 second advantage over the Method Motorsport #25 McLaren.
As the sun set and the temperature began to drop, Jett Murray started to bring the gap down to the leading #114 McLaren of Johnson, while also holding the #27 Multispares Mustang of Lachie Dalton behind. As the race approached the conclusion, the gap continued to fall, but Murray managed the final stint perfectly, and when the last lap was shown with the gap still out over 5 seconds, it was clear that the Team Soutar car would bring home the win.
Exton and Johnson took victory for the #114 Team Soutar McLaren, with the final gap just under 5 seconds over the #25 Method Motorsport pair of Hayman and Murray. Rounding out the podium was the #27 Multispares Racing crew of Cameron and Dalton, using an early stop to their advantage, while Jobe Stewart finished the race strong in the #48 Purdie Racing Audi to regain 4th.
It was a double victory for Team Soutar Motorsport, with Glen Nirwan and Zac Soutar taking the Silver-Am class victory in the #75 Tufflift Racing by TSM McLaren. Nirwan wrestled the lead of the class from Jakob Lawrence’s #32 Randall Racing BMW, using the faster #35 Miedecke Motorsport Mustang as a pick to open the door up on the BMW through Turn 6, as George Miedecke passed the pair for overall position. From there, Nirwan managed his pace just enough, holding off Dean Campbell’s #118 Method Motorsport Mustang and the #22 Ashley Seward Motorsport BMW of Tim Leahey at bay as the trio exited the final corner nose to tail. The top 3 in Silver-Am was covered by only 6 tenths of a second at the line.
Winning Am and 18th overall was Glenn Walker in the #14 Gommersall Motorsport Mustang, holding a comfortable 15 seconds over the #11 Method Motorsport McLaren of Ryan Sorensen.
Unfortunately there was two retirements from the race; the #222 Team Komo BMW suffered a puncture, with Jiawei Chen limping the BMW back to the garage on lap 8, while the #227 Multispares Mustang suffered gearbox issues in the first stint, and retired at the pit stop.
Race 2: Method Motorsport put one hand on GT4 Australia title with commanding win
A very hot Sunday afternoon greeted the field for Race 2, which saw the surprise non-start of the #27 Multispares Mustang after a mechanical issue prevented the car from reaching the grid. This meant that Cameron and Dalton’s third place on the grid would instead be filled by the #48 Purdie Racing Audi, with the rest of the field moving up a position.
It was a frantic race start, with the two leading McLaren’s not making the best of the front row positioning, with both the #25 Method Motorsport and #114 Team Soutar Motorsport cars slow to get off the line. In contrast, George Miedecke got a blinder from 5th on the grid, putting the #35 Miedecke Motorsport Mustang up against the inside wall on his way from 5th to second, muscling through on Johnson through turn 2. Johnson got shuffled back further as Stewart got through in the #48 Purdie Racing Audi, putting the #114 McLaren into 4th.
No-one could catch Jett Murray in the early stages though, as Murray stretched the #25 Method Motorsport McLaren’s legs and got to work building a gap to offset the 10 seconds success penalty for the second place in race 1. He was helped by the skirmish behind – Stewart was heaping the pressure on Miedecke, while Johnson was in the mix, just off the back.
Come the pit stops, and Murray had stretched out to 8 seconds over the battle for second; the Mustang of Miedecke now a second ahead of Stewart and Johnson battling for third. The chasing cars elected to pit early, just on the halfway mark, while Method Motorsport left Murray out in clean air, hoping to maximise the pace advantage that Murray had over the field.
Two laps later and Murray was in, handing the #25 McLaren over to Tom Hayman. Blake Tracey had the #35 Miedecke Motorsport Mustang looming down the main straight as Hayman exited the pits, but the #25 McLaren had done enough; Hayman returned to the circuit with over a second in hand over Tracey in second.
And from there, Hayman controlled the race and never looked troubled. Hayman and Murray took the win in the #25 Method Motorsport McLaren, almost 5 seconds ahead of the #35 Miedecke Motorsport pair of Miedecke and Tracey. In a lonely third was the #48 Purdie Racing Audi, 10 seconds behind the #35, and far enough ahead of the charging #114 Team Soutar Motorsport McLaren to not worry about Exton’s electric pace in the final stint; after earning the maximum pit time due to Saturday’s win, Exton closed over 20 seconds in his run from 6th to 4th, passing the #7 Slatterys/McElrea BMW of Jay Murray, and the #9 GWR Toyota of Frougas and Blincoe on the way.
Winning Silver-Am was the #118 Method Motorsport Mustang of Burcher and Campbell, taking 6th overall, while the winning Am car was once again Glenn Walker in the #14 Gommersall Motorsport Mustang.
With one round remaining, the #25 Method Motorsport McLaren Artura pairing of Hayman and Murray hold a commanding lead in the championship. With 52 points on offer – one for each pole position, and a maximum of 25 points each race – Hayman and Murray hold a 45 point lead over the #48 Purdie Racing Audi pair of Purdie and Stewart. A single point further behind is Miedecke and Tracey; the #35 Miedecke Motorsport Mustang on 108 points. The non-start from the #27 Multispares Mustang saw Cameron and Dalton drop from second in the championship after race 1, down to 4th and mathematically out of the hunt.
In Silver-Am, it’s all to play for heading into the last round. Wins for the #75 Tufflift Racing by TSM McLaren and #118 Method Motorsport Mustang have seen both teams leapfrog the #3 Thunder Buddies BMW that held the championship lead heading into the weekend, after a rough Sunday saw the #3 finish 11th in class and out of the points. The #75 Tufflift Racing by TSM McLaren of Soutar and Nirwan has the Silver-Am points lead on 128 points, while the #118 Method Motorsport Mustang of Burcher and Campbell sits 2 points behind on 126 points, and Ryder Quinn holds third in the #3 Thunder Buddies Racing BMW, on 125 points.
The Am class heads into the final round as a battle of two: A great weekend from Glenn Walker in the #14 Gommersall Motorsport Mustang saw him stretch the class lead out to 16 points over the #64 Method Motorsport Porsche of Callaghan and Lillis.
Monochrome GT4 Australia wraps up its 2026 season at the final Shannon’s Speedseries round at Sandown Raceway, on the weekend of the 30th Oct-1st Nov.
