Arise GT appears to be on the way to secure the GT World Challenge Australia title again, even though the No. 26 Ferrari 296 GT3 of Elliott Schutte and Jaxon Evans conquered only one win at the GT Festival Sandown, with the Sunday race of the wet weekend going to the No. 1 Volante Rosso Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Liam Talbot and Jamie Day.
The return to competition was also a moment to properly pay tribute to Tim Miles, as the driver of the No. 7 DayleITM MPC Audi passed away at 58 years old in a road accident, with his co-driver Brendon Leitch doing a lap with the car with some donuts and burnouts. The duo was in fourth place when they last raced, which was Queensland, with them having two podiums in the season including a runner-up finish in Miles’ last race.
The No. 26 Arise Ferrari led at the straight in Race 1 once the start was allowed, but Elliott Schutte was immediately gobbled by the field as the No. 888 Kelso MPC Audi and the No. 1 Volante Rosso Aston Martin passing right after the first corner, with the No. 88 Wolfbrook MPC Audi finding a way past Schutte a lap later.
With the No. 268 Team BRM Audi beached in the gravel, the field was neutralized for a while, but once the green flag was back, Renee Gracie positioned the No. 181 OnlyFans Audi at the top of the Am Cup field, while Liam Talbot was trying to show to Brad Schumacher that he was faster and wanting to pass. With pit stops done, the No. 1 took the lead but Jaxon Evans was approaching in the No. 26, just taking advantage of a mistake from Jamie Day to take the lead, bringing the No. 88 along.
For around 20 minutes, the No. 88 Wolfbrook MPC Audi and the No. 888 Kelso MPC Audi kept chasing the No. 26 Arise Ferrari, and despite exchanging blows in the final two laps as not even a second separated the three cars, Jaxon Evans held it to bring the Ferrari to the win. The changes in the Am Cup after the pit window helped the No. 16 Black Wolf Mercedes’ cause, and it held the class lead until the finish line as the No. 181 OnlyFans MPC Audi was slowed down due to traffic.
GTWC Australia - Sandown Race 1 results
The second race started where the first one ended, with a wet track despite the partially cloudy sky. The No. 77 Arise Ferrari took the lead, but a spin after the first chicane meant that the first place was handed to the No. 66 Tigani Mercedes, and with the No. 47 TIgani Mercedes spinning and hitting the wall like the No. 77, the Safety Car was called.
What was saving Jayden Ojeda was that Jaxon Evans was stuck in fourth behind Broc Feeney, but once the No. 26 Arise Ferrari got past the No. 888 Kelso MPC Audi, it was time to chase the No. 9 Hallmarc MPC Audi and the No. 66, with Evans inducing Lee Holdsworth to a mistake to overtake him
Once the pitwork was out of the way, the No. 66 kept the lead but Liam Talbot was making gains in the No. 1 Volante Rosso Aston Martin, biding time to make a move and then pouncing on both the No. 888 and the No. 268 Team BRM Audi to get the second place. To continue the progress, Talbot crushed the six seconds of gap to Paul Lucchitti, finding no problems to pass the No. 66, take the overall lead and go away with it with 10 minutes to go.
Eventually, Brad Schumacher passed Lucchitti too, and even though he had Talbot at 1 second of him, he had no way to pass, with the two even going elbows out and banging doors in the final lap, only for the No. 1 Volante Rosso Aston Martin to secure victory as intense rain made the whole field tiptoe their ways over the soaked asphalt.
GTWC Australia - Sandown Race 2 results
The No. 24 KFC MPC Audi made an interesting race for a Trophy class entry, finishing ahead of all Am Cup cars, including the class winning No. 181 OnlyFans MPC Audi, which fought back after what initially appeared to be a win for the No. 16 Black Wolf Mercedes turn around due to the late rain.
Evans and Schutte (No. 26) lead the standings with 160 points over 129 from Feeney and Schumacher (No. 888), while Ojeda and Lucchtti (No. 66) hold little chance for the title with 95 points and Liam Talbot (No. 1) is almost mathematically out of contention with 78 points.
The Am Cup is still led by Renee Gracie (No. 181) as she has 191 points over the 117 of Woodman and Schoots (No. 16), which puts the duo against the wall, as they can’t retire in the next races over risk of handing the class title to Gracie in anticipation.
The season continues at The Bend, with rounds 9 and 10 set for 6 and 7 September.
PHOTOS: SRO
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