GT World Challenge Australia has its equivalent to the Misano and Magny-Cours rounds in GT World Challenge Europe, and the Sydney weekend had total domination of the Saturday night by the No. 56 Kollosche AMG by Tigani Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo of Oscar Targett and Shane Smollen, while the Sunday went back to the Audis, more specifically the No. 1 Kelso Electrical Team MPC Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Brad Schumacher and Broc Feeney.
The Tigani front row in the first race prevailed for a few corners, and while the No. 56 Tigani Mercedes remained in the lead, the No. 44 Mercedes was passed by the No. 268 Team BRM Audi and the sister No. 66 Tigani Mercedes, and to make matters worse for Sergio Pires, a smoking front end revealed terminal issues related to the engine, meaning it was a trip straight to the garage.
Things looked stable until the pit window came, and after it, the No. 66 Tigani Mercedes jumped to second and the No. 268 Team BRM Audi fell to fourth after a rough battle with the No. 66, behind the No. 26 ARGT Ferrari. Jayden Ojeda caught up with Oscar Targett pretty quickly, but as time passed, Targett started showing similar pace to Ojeda, and the No. 66 would suffer a hefty blow in form of a drive through with eight minutes to go due to unauthorized number of staff working on the car during the pit window.
With only the No. 268 Team BRM Audi behind as a not so immediate threat, Targett just had to bring home the No. 56 Tigani Mercedes to a commanding win. In the Trophy class, the No. 24 KFC MPC Audi was the dominant force but had the class win in a dramatic way after a stop and go penalty due to pit stop time infringement.
GTWC Australia - Sydney Race 1 result
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Team BRM took the front row for the second race but Tigani had the second row and part of the third row totally occupied, and while both Audis weren’t exactly working on the tactics, they prevailed in the lead at the start until the first corner of the second lap, when Alex Peroni went wide, opened the door for Ryan Wood to force an overtake, and this brought Brendon Leitch to the party, with the No. 268 Team BRM Audi being the sacrifical pawn to keep the No. 88 BRM Wolfbrook Audi in the lead, with the No. 44 Tigani Mercedes in between them and the No. 1 Kelso MPC Audi on the chase.
While the top 2 detached themselves from the pack, Peroni wasn’t asserting dominance in the chasing pack, being barged out of the way for third and fourth positions as the No. 1 and the No. 66 took the positions in a matter of three corners. After the pit window, Brad Schumacher started making moves and quickly dispatched Sergio Pires, but the move for second place became a two for one overtake as Steve Brooks saw the No. 88 BRM Wolfbrook Audi come to a halt on track, restarting some moments later to go back to the garage.
After a brief Safety Car period, Pires tried to slingshot the No. 44 to pass Schumacher, but the No. 1 was firm in the line. After losing that battle, Pires couldn’t keep contact to fight back again, and the No. 1 Kelso MPC Audi remained in the lead until the finish. In the Trophy class, the first stint looked like a balanced back and forth exchange between the No. 24 KFC MPC Audi and the No. 71 AED Tigani Porsche, but when Michael Stoupas took the No. 24 in the second stint, it was straight control to complete the weekend class sweep.
GTWC Australia - Sydney Race 2 results
Feeney and Schumacher (No. 1) will arrive at Adelaide with the lead and 146 points in the table, while Mark Rosser (No. 268) has 132 and Leitch and Pires (No. 44) have 119. The showdown at the streets of Adelaide will be held on 28 and 29 November.
PHOTOS: SRO/Jack Martin Photography
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