Arise Racing GT’s debut at Bathurst has got off to the perfect start after scoring a 1-2 in opening practice for the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS season finale at Bathurst.
Jaxon Evans set a scorching pace in the Arise Racing GT Ferrari 296 GT3 to set a 2m 02.943s to top opening practice. The New Zealander and co-driver Elliott Schutte remain in contention for the title being just 34-point in arrears of the lead.
Teammates Chaz Mostert and Liam Talbot lead the title as the duo sat second at the close of the opening session from the first Audi, the Dayle ITM Team MPC R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Brendon Leitch and Tim Miles.
Jayden Ojeda set the fourth fastest time in the Realta/Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to be shared alongside Paul Lucchitti.
Title contenders Will Brown and Brad Schumacher completed the top five for Shaw & Partners/Kelso Electrical Team MPC in the second fastest Audi.
In his first drive at Bathurst, Alex Peroni was sixth in the ACM Finance/Team BRM Audi shared with Mark Rosser ahead of Declan Fraser and Peter Hackett driving the Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes-AMG.
International visitors Car Collection Motorsport recorded the eighth fastest time with Alex Fontana and ‘Hash’.
Grove Racing’s Brenton and Stephen Grove were ninth in the Grove Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo followed by the lead Pro-Am Class contender in Valmont Racing’s Sergio Pires and Marcel Zalloua in another Audi.
Trophy Class leader Valentino Astuti continued to impress in the older-specification Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3, but it caused an early end to the session when it stopped on track in the hands of new co-driver Liam Dunn.
The new 111 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Darren Currie and Grant ‘Axle’ Donaldson was second in Am Cup sending a warning shot to the established contenders.
Leading the Am Cup standings, Garth Walden and Mike Sheargold were third in the RAM Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.
Rounding out the Pro-Am field was Renee Gracie and Paul Stokell sharing the OnlyFans Team MPC Audi, as the former made her first trip to race at the legendary circuit since 2018.
Black Wolf Motorsport’s Ben Schoots and Shane Woodman were fourth in their Am Cup Mercedes-AMG ahead of James and Theo Koundouris in the similar Supabarn Supermarkets/Tigani Motorsport entry.
Marc Cini and Ash Samadi completed the Am Class field ahead of Trophy Class competitor Stephen Coe in the Ferrari 458 GT3.
The next session for Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS at Bathurst is at 3:35pm AEDT.