The FANATEC GT World Challenge Australia series was the last series of the main SRO banner to settle the 2023 season, and the triple header at the streets of Adelaide saw a fierce battle between the No. 1 EMA Porsche 992 GT3R and the No. 65 Shannons MPC Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, and while Yasser Shahin and Matt Campbell won more on track last weekend, the table was in favor of Liam Talbot, who won the trophy by having Christopher Mies alongside him in his departure weekend from Audi Sport.
The first race saw the No. 1 EMA Porsche shut the door on the No. 65 Shannons Audi to keep the first place while most of the field was still having a look at the lead battle, which included some of the GT3 Am Cup entries like the No. 55 Schumacher Audi and the No. 181 OnlyFans Audi.
Hairpins of street circuits tend to attract trouble, and at least three incidents were seen where there was no room for two cars, with the No. 34 having the worst consequence with terminal left front damage from contact with the No. 4 MRA MARC.
In question of minutes the top two left the field behind to stay in their own battle for first, and Yasser Shahin was barely keeping the No. 1 ahead of Liam Talbot. When the pro drivers jumped in, Matt Campbell was on a string of fast laps and had traffic on his favor to hold Christopher Mies and take control of the lead completely.
The final 10 minutes had Mies replying to Campbell and reducing the gap, but again traffic was an issue for him, so the tiniest gap was 1.2 seconds at the line, with the winning No. 1 EMA Porsche and the No. 65 Shannons Audi being slowed by lapping traffic.
GTWC Australia - Adelaide Race 1 results
Just behind the GT3 Pro-Am podium, the No. 55 Schumacher Audi was the best GT3 Am Cup car, while outside the overall top-10, the No. 26 Gap Solutions MARC GT was the Invitational class winner and the No. 78 Sonic Porsche Cup won the Trophy class.
Race 2 started with the No. 1 EMA Porsche going for the exact same inside line on the first chicane to take the lead while the No. 23 was more like falling prey of the No. 65 Shannons Audi than anything.
As much as Matt Campbell did have a threat in Christopher Mies, he actually took three laps to get into second place and start an attack, and with the races having less time, every second lost was a major problem. What EMA Manthey didn’t see was Shannons moving quickly in the pit window, so Liam Talbot had the No. 65 just ahead of the No. 1 to defend from Yasser Shahin.
Although Shahin kept a close watch on Talbot, this was the best he was able to do at the moment, with the No. 65 Shannons Audi keeping the position firmly and getting the checkered.
GTWC Australia - Adelaide Race 2 results
The No. 23 KFC Audi had a dominant run in the GT3 Am Cup but so did the No. 181 OnlyFans Audi which was the class runner-up, and the No. 78 Sonic Porsche Cup got GT3 Trophy honors, while the Invitational class saw the No. 20 T2 MARC get the win.
Positions were inverted in the front row for Race 3 as the No. 65 Shannons Audi had pole position and the line for the first leg of the chicane, and while Liam Talbot held wonderfully the position for a while, Yasser Shahin offered the challenge at the hairpin and won the position.
The No. 96 Hobson Mercedes was doing a good job and breaking the GT3 Am Cup domination but spun on the way to the back straight and opened the door for the No. 23 KFC Audi, which eventually conceded position to the No. 181 OnlyFans Audi and the Trophy leading No. 78 Sonic Porsche Cup. Renee Gracie was benefiting from having a car from a different between the competition, but Matt Stoupas was also having his fair share of trouble with Brad Schumacher, with positions changing with 28 minutes to go.
With less than 15 minutes to go, the top classes still had battles to settle, and while the No. 65 wasn’t passing the No. 1, the No. 55 got around the No. 181 at the hairpin for the GT3 Am Cup lead, where basically there was no place to mount a solid position defense. Christopher Mies tried his best to attack Matt Campbell, but with traffic appearing in awkward places with little room to pass, the No. 1 EMA Porsche just confirmed the victory that looked certain.
GTWC Australia - Adelaide Race 3 results
The No. 55 Schumacher Audi had the pace advantage in the GT3 Am Cup and this secured the class win too for Brad Schumacher, with the No. 181 OnlyFans Audi having another runner-up finish in class. Despite tumbling down the order, the No. 78 Sonic Porsche Cup secured the Trophy class win while the No. 4 MRA MARC was right behind to win the Invitational class.
Despite racking up wins at Adelaide, EMA Manthey couldn’t revert the standings situation, so Liam Talbot was the series champion and GT3 Pro-Am champion. Brad Schumacher got the GT3 Am Cup title and Renee Gracie, who was promoted to the GT3 Am Cup last weekend, got the Trophy class title.
PHOTOS: SRO, Audi Sport, EMA Motorsport
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