Will Brown and Brad Schumacher have narrowly kept their Fanatec GT World Australia Powered by AWS title hopes alive after taking victory in the opening one-hour encounter of the Bathurst International.
While the Pro-Am fight will go down to the final race, RAM Motorsport’s Garth Walden and Mike Sheargold have sewn up the Am title with a race to spare after taking out second place behind Valmont Racing’s Sergio Pires and claiming an unassailable lead in the class.
Finishing runner up to the Shaw & Partners/Kelso Electrical Audi of Schumacher and Brown were Pro-Am leaders Chaz Mostert and Liam Talbot in the lead Arise Racing GT Ferrari 296 GT3, while Brendon Leitch and Tim Miles rounded out the Pro-Am podium in the Dayle ITM Team MPC Audi.
Following a strange start to the race where timing issues caused a delay to proceedings before eventually getting underway behind the safety car, it was a Ferrari and Audi battle right from the get go.
Leading the way was Talbot over Paul Stokell, who was piling on the pressure behind the wheel of the OnlyFans Team MPC Audi.
Although an intense battle between the two followed until the stops occurred, Talbot was able to hold on to his lead despite lapped traffic playing a part towards the end of the stint due to the Am Class entries taking their stops.
The Am Class was dominated in the early stint by Pires after he qualified fourth outright, which continued after the pit stops, while Arise Racing GT’s second Ferrari driven by Elliott Schutte led a Pro-Am battle as the class approached the pit window.
The likes of Schumacher and Paul Lucchitti for Realta/Tigani Motorsport pitted right on the pit stop window opening, but both Talbot and Stokell chose to push on.
Talbot pitted the next lap, allowing Stokell to lead the field until he entered the lane at the end of the window to swap with Renee Gracie, who emerged in top spot ahead of both Brown and Mostert after the Ferrari was required to stop for longer due to previous success.
Brown and Mostert soon got past Gracie before breaking away from the pack, while both Leitch and Alex Peroni in the ACM Finance/Team BRM also made it past the Audi - the former of which began to chase down the lead duo.
As the race reached its climax, Brown was able to hold on to his 3s margin to Mostert, as Leitch was unable to catch the lead duo and settled for third.
In the AM class, Pires proved too good in what was his first solo drive to hold off the RAM Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Walden and Sheargold, who cruised to the class title after the Supabarn Supermarkets Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of key rivals James and Theo Koundouris suffered engine problems.
Taking the final step of the class podium for the race was Black Wolf Motorsport’s Shane Woodman and Ben Schoots.
The Trophy Class was decided midway throughout the outing when Stephen Coe spun his Ferrari 458 GT3 at The Chase, forcing him to retire and enabling Liam Dunn and Valentino Astuti in the KMB Motorsport Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 to take out the win.
Thanks to their victory on Saturday, Brown and Schumacher remain in contention for the title as they reduced the gap to Arise Racing GT’s Mostert and Talbot to 24-points.
The final race of the 2024 Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS season from the Bathurst International is scheduled for 2:55pm AEDT tomorrow and will be broadcast live on 7plus and GTWorld.