With the changes promoted in the GT World Challenge Australia grid during the off-season, the first weekend at Phillip Island would show us how the pecking order would be like, and although the No. 26 Arise GT Ferrari 296 GT3 of Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte showed that the team is still a top contender on Saturday, the No. 888 Kelso Electrical MPC Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Brad Schumacher and Broc Feeney showed that no one can get distracted as the field is incredibly competitive.
Race 1 had Sergio Pires throwing his No. 55 Valmont Tigani Mercedes in front by Turn 2, only to be passed by Elliott Schutte and his No. 26 Arise Ferrari before the first lap ends. While Brad Schumacher was following them in the No. 888 Kelso MPC Audi, the lead battle was reserved for the top two machines.
With 16 minutes of racing, the No. 88 Wolfbrook MPC Audi found the barriers and the Safety Car was called, bringing somewhat of a cooldown to the lead battle with some time to spare before the mandatory pit stop. 10 minutes later, the race restarted but the chase was on as Pires was totally over Schutte’s rear wing, but once he toned down the pressure, Mark Rosser appeared with the No. 268 Team BRM Audi after dispatching Schumacher for third, only to stay stuck behind Pires until the pit window came.
The order had some subtle changes after the pit window, with Broc Feeney putting the No. 888 in second while Alex Peroni was keeping was keeping the No. 268 in third after a beef with the No. 55 during the pit stop release. Way behind them, Renee Gracie was keeping the No. 181 OnlyFans Audi in the Am Cup lead mixed with the midfield Pro-Am Cup entries, only to be penalized by a breach of mandatory pit stop, dropping to serve the penalty with 5 minutes to go, which allowed the No. 16 Black Wolf Mercedes to take the class lead.
Eventually, Jayden Ojeda carved his way to third and got fed up of waiting behind the No. 888, pressing hard Feeney and putting the No. 66 Realta Tigani Mercedes in second to try to chase Jaxon Evans. Ojeda charged hard to close the gap, but he lacked room to make the definitive move, with the No. 26 Arise Ferrari winning by 0.259 seconds, while the No. 888 Kelso MPC Audi lost the overall third to the No. 268 Team BRM Audi due to a last lap tire blow in the rear left corner.
With the penalty that demoted the No. 181 OnlyFans Audi to second in the Am Cup, the No. 16 Black Wolf Mercedes was the class winner, just managing to not get in the way of the Pro-Am Cup cars as there was a substantial gap to the runner-up.
The No. 268 Team BRM Audi had some advantage at the Race 2 start, so Dorian Boccolacci wasn’t able to find room to get his No. 911 EMA Porsche in, focusing then on following the leader to bide his time and mount an attack.
While the top two were still in their own cat and mouse game, Jayden Ojeda charged to overtake Jaxon Evans and take the No. 66 Realta Tigani Mercedes to third place until the pit window. Between a delay for the EMA squad, the No. 268 became comfortable in the lead and the No. 888 Kelso MPC Audi got second place, while the No. 911 had to do a recovery run to third place.
When it appeared that the win would be safe for Team BRM, a drive through penalty due to pit stop infringement threw the No. 268 closer to the bottom of the overall top 10 while the No. 888 Kelso MPC Audi claimed the lead. Brad Schumacher’s main threat wouldn’t be Liam Talbot in the No. 1 Volante Rosso Aston Martin, but the incoming rain, which came in the final seconds of the race and slowed Schumacher significantly, though it wasn’t enough to deny him the victory, with the finish separating the two cars by 0.783 seconds.
GTWC Australia - Phillip Island Race 2 results
Renee Gracie repeated the performance from Saturday but stood clear from any penalties during the whole Race 2, securing the Am Cup win with authority over the No. 16 Black Wolf Mercedes.
Evans and Schutte lead the standings with 41 points against the 28 of Fraser and Talbot and the 27 points of Feeney and Schumacher, while Leitch and Miles hold a close fourth place with 25 points. The Am Cup table shows Gracie, Woodman and Schoots with 44 points while James and Theo Koundouris have 30.
In a month there’s more to come, as the second weekend of GT World Challenge Australia will be held at Sydney Motorsport Park on 3 and 4 May.
PHOTOS: Arise Racing GT, SRO
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