The Ferraris emerged as the early pace setters in mixed conditions at The Bend on Friday. Elliott Schutte and Supercars star Jaxon Evans topped Practice 1 and 2 respectively, but with dry conditions expected to greet drivers and teams on Saturday and Sunday, picking the real running order seems somewhat of a lottery.
See below reports from Practice 1 and Practice 2 at The Bend in South Australia.
PRACTICE 1
Ferrari has finished the opening session for Round 2 of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS fastest, but it wasn’t the series leader.
The Arise Racing GT Ferrari 296 GT3 shared by Elliott Schutte and Jaxon Evans set the fastest time around The Bend’s West configuration at a 1m 15.019s, but this was only 0.060s clear of the second placed Realta/Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 featuring Jayden Ojeda pairing with Paul Lucchitti.
In what was a close session where the top 10 were covered by less than a second, it promises for a close weekend of action in the category’s first trip to The Bend facility in two years.
Racing at his home circuit, Mark Rosser’s Team BRM Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2 was third with a time set by co-driver Alex Peroni as Am Brad Schumacher completed the running in the Shaw & Partners/Kelso Electrical/Team MPC example to sit an impressive fourth as Will Brown watched.
It was a positive start for the returning Adrian Deitz and Tony D’Alberto as the Wall Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 was fifth ahead of Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Declan Fraser and Peter Hackett for Mercedes-AMG just 0.472s off the leading Ferrari’s pace.
Chaz Mostert was seventh in the second Arise Racing GT Ferrari to be shared by reigning series winner Liam Talbot, while Am Class was led by RAM Motorsport duo Mike Sheargold and Garth Walden in eighth outright driving their Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Last start winners Tim Miles and Brendon Leitch were ninth in the Dayle ITM Team MPC Audi as new teammates Steve Brookes and Nick McBride completed the outright top 10.
Just outside were the Renee Gracie/Paul Stokell Audi, the sole Trophy Class KMB Motorsport Aston Martin of Valentino Astuti and Darren Currie, while second in Am Class was the Valmont Racing R8 LMS GT3 Evo2 shared by Marcel Zalloua and Sergio Pires.
Leading the Am Class standings, James and Theo Koundouris were third for Supabarn Supermarkets in their Mercedes-AMG GT3 from Ash Samadi’s Audi, the returning Black Wolf Motorsport entry for Shane Woodman and Ben Schoots as Marc Cini rounded out the field.
PRACTICE 2
Wet conditions led to limited running for many competitors as Arise Racing GT’s pair of Ferrari 296 GT3s ended the second practice session for Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS at The Bend at the top.
Repeating their result from the opening practice session earlier, Elliott Schutte and Jaxon Evans set the fastest time on a 1m 24.985s to edge teammates Liam Talbot and Chaz Mostert by 0.267s.
New Zealander Brendon Leitch put the Dayle ITM Team MPC Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2 in third just 0.441s off the top as co-driver Tim Miles didn’t run.
Peter Hackett and Declan Fraser finished the session fourth in the Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes-AMG GT3 ahead of the OnlyFans Team MPC Audi shared by Paul Stokell and Renee Gracie in progressively tough conditions.
After scoring a podium in the second race at Phillip Island, Paul Lucchitti and Jayden Ojeda continued this form to be sixth in the Realta/Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3, which led the new Team MPC entry for New Zealander Steve Brooks sharing alongside the experienced Nick McBride.
Leading Am Class were brothers James and Theo Koundouris combining in the Supabarn Supermarkets Mercedes-AMG GT3 run by Tigani Motorsport, with Brad Schumacher following for Shaw & Partners/Kelso Electrical/Team MPC.
Rounding out the drivers to brave the conditions were Marcel Zalloua and Sergio Pires in the Valmont Racing Audi, the Aston Martin of Darren Currie and Valentino Astuti, while Mike Sheargold for RAM Motorsport gained crucial track time.
Qualifying continues the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS action at 8:00am ACST or 8:30am AEST tomorrow morning.
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