Returning to the venue of the maiden Ferrari 296 GT3 victory in April, Chaz Mostert and Liam Talbot have repeated the dose at the GT Festival, Phillip Island.
It was a smooth race for the leaders as they entered SignEvent Victory Lane, but action packed behind as the duo extended their series lead as rivals found the going tough.
Alex Peroni and Mark Rosser continued their strong form to finish runner up in the Team BRM/ACM Finance Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II. Despite early contact, Triple Eight Race Engineering recovered to fill the final podium slot with Declan Fraser and Peter Hackett.
In the Am Cup, Valmont Racing returned to category with victory for Marcel Zalloua and Sergio Pires finishing just ahead of the RAM Motorsport partnership of Garth Walden and Mike Sheargold.
There was chaos at the start as initially there was contact in the mid-pack approaching the opening corner, but there was a touch between Paul Stokell in the OnlyFans Team MPC Audi and the Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Peter Hackett.
Hackett spun and re-joined at the back of the field, while Stokell was handed a 15s penalty for his role in the incident.
Liam Talbot was clear of this chaos from Mark Rosser, Brad Schumacher and Stokell held third.
A further spin occurred when the Realta/Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 started by Paul Lucchitti made contact with the Volante Rosso Motorsport Aston Martin AMR Vantage GT3 of Ross Poulakis. Damaged was caused to the Mercedes-AMG’s steering pitched Lucchitti off track.
Lucchitti’s stranded Mercedes-AMG led to the safety car being required leading to Talbot losing his comfortable advantage.
Schumacher was pushing hard to challenge Rosser in the Team BRM/ACM Finance Audi, but spun at Turn 4 opening the door for Stokell to make gains before his penalty.
It was a superb opening to the race for the RAM Motorsport/GWR Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 courtesy of Walden as he sat fifth outright and first in Am Class, just ahead of the returning Valmont Racing Audi started by Pires.
Stokell demoted Rosser to third just prior to the pit stop window opening as he pushed to make as much ground as possible ahead of the 15s penalty being added to his pit stop.
Both Am Class leaders Walden and Pires pitted at the same time, but due to winning the previous race at Queensland Raceway the RAM Motorsport/GWR Australia team’s stop was 15s longer.
The Grove Racing GT was the first Pro-Am team to pit followed quickly by Tim Miles in the Dayle ITM Team MPC Audi and the Arise Racing GT Ferrari of Elliott Schutte, with both colliding at pit entry. After the contact, Schutte was delayed slightly.
Stokell’s work was rewarded when Gracie emerged in third after the pit stop as the race calmed down in rhythm. Schutte handed over to Evans and quickly dropped Gracie to third as he pursued Alex Peroni in second following Rosser’s superb opening stint.
Will Brown continued Schumacher’s recovery following an earlier spin as he challenged Brenton Grove, with Declan Fraser in the Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes-AMG not far away. Fraser in turn was also making ground, passing Gracie at Turn 4.
Ahead of this pack was Brendon Leitch after replacing Miles and was setting lap records in pursuit of Evans in third place. In the Battle of the New Zealanders, it was Leitch taking Evans in third as his next victim was Peroni.
Mostert assumed control after swapping with Talbot and retained a steady margin back to Peroni as Leitch charged.
Just as the race appeared to be in for a calm finish first the Black Wolf Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Ben Schoots at the wheel contacted Ash Samadi in the Team MPC Audi leading to a penalty for the former.
Then a tyre problem arose for Evans in the Ferrari dropping him to 11th, while a similar affliction occurred for Leitch on the penultimate lap as he re-entered the race in 14th.
However, none of this worried Mostert as he guided the Arise Racing GT Ferrari 296 GT3 to he and Talbot’s second victory for the season after opening up the campaign with a win.
Peroni completed Rosser’s fine work in the opening stint to finish second and Fraser guided the Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes-AMG GT3 into the final podium slot alongside Hackett.
The Grove Racing GT Mercedes-AMG GT3 finished fourth from title contenders Brown and Schumacher, while the Gracie/Stokell pairing was sixth.
Valmont Racing returned to the category with victory in Am Cup for Zalloua/Pires finishing just ahead of the RAM Motorsport/GWR Australia partnership of Walden/Sheargold.
Evans recovered to ninth at the end in the Arise Racing Ferrari shared with Schutte as Schoots in the Black Wolf Motorsport Mercedes-AMG completed the Am Class podium.
The Volante Rosso Motorsport Aston Martin AMR Vantage GT3 of Poulakis and Alex Gardner finished 11th from the Supabarn Supermarkets/Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG of the Koundouris brothers, James and Theo.
David Brabham and Chris Batzios was 13th in the Harrolds Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 from the Leitch/Miles Audi, while Marc Cini was fifth in Am for Hallmarc Team MPC.
Samadi and Paul Morris in the Trophy Class winning Scott Taylor Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3-R (997) shared with Scott Taylor completed the runners.
Trophy Class season leaders Valentino Astuti and Darren Currie in the KMB Motorsport Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 stopped in the closing stages following a troublesome race, while the Lucchitti Mercedes-AMG GT3 to be shared with Jayden Ojeda was the other non-finisher.
Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS continues with Race 2 at 12:50pm AEST live on Foxtel/Kayo and GTWorld YouTube.