The Bend MPC wins bizarre Race 2 at Sandown

The rain that affected Sandown Raceway during the whole weekend was a key factor in the second race of FANATEC GT World Challenge Australia, having first forcing the interruption of the on track activities and then offering the scenario for one of the most thrilling and bizarre finishes of the season, culminating in another win for the No. 1 The Bend MPC Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Yasser Shahin and Garth Tander.

Track was as wet as it was when the Race 1 was called off early, so the fight for grip would be as important as the fight for positions, and Shane van Gisbergen knew it best at the start when the No. 888 Triple Eight Mercedes got unstable under braking for him to snatch first place from the No. 1 The Bend MPC Audi.

The margin between risk and reward in the massively wet track was thin, so the race had a bit of stagnation in the order, and even without taking risks, it was barely on the line of controllable, as shown by the No. 45 RAM Mercedes and the No. 101 Harrolds Mercedes, as not even the comforts in the GT3’s electronics were of much help to avoid their almost synchronized spin, bringing the Safety Car with eight minutes of racing.

Four minutes were enough to clear the mess despite standing water making presence in the grass and the gravel, but a few seconds after the green flag, basically everybody overcooked at Coopers Corner, with cars going sideways and the No. 24 C-Tech Laser Audi facing the wrong way, and the Safety Car came back to assess the track condition to decide how the race would continue.

After 10 minutes just circulating behind the Safety Car, the cars were brought to the pits and the race was interrupted. After 20 minutes stopped, the field returned to the track for more Safety Car laps to assess the situation again, with extra 12 minutes of neutralization before the green flag gets waved again, with the fight for the win staying with the usual suspects of the series.

The mandatory pit stop with no service was a thing in the final minutes, with the back of the field coming early, while the No. 888 was the last to stop. The order was basically flipped behind the No. 888, with the No. 24 in second, the No. 20 G-Techniq Audi in third defending from the No. 1, and Tony Bates found some speed to pass Jeffri Ibrahim in the No. 888 in the final seconds, only to overshoot hard and spin a few corners later, which opened the door for the charging Yasser Shahin to get the checkered flag for the No. 1 The Bend MPC Audi after passing both Liam Talbot and Jeffri Ibrahim.

 Here is the key moment of the race in video:

GTWC Australia - Sandown Race 2 results

The No. 23 KFC MPC Audi won the GT3 Am Cup by a comfortable margin over the sister No. 2 KFC MPC Audi, with the No. 50 MMotorsport KTM and the No. 19 Daimler Brisbane Mercedes surviving to top the Invitational and GT4 podiums, respectively.

The series will now have another one month stop before it heads to the next round, with The Bend hosting the fifth round on 22 and 23 October.

PHOTO: SRO