The GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS has officially kicked off the 2025 season finale at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park with Jayden Ojeda and Paul Lucchitti topping the timesheets in their Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.
In what was an interrupted opening session of the weekend with a pair of red flags, the Tigani Motorsport pair’s time of 01:30.670 proved too quick for the rest of the field.
Going second fastest for the session were title contenders Broc Feeney and Brad Schumacher in the Melbourne Performance Centre Audi R8 LMS EVO II, with the pair two tenths off the pace after Feeney posted his lap time of 1:30.802 on lap 15.
The Queenslander managed to jump series debutants Josh Buchan and Cameron Campbell in the Zagame Autosport Ferrari 296 GT3 after the pair had led the field for the majority of the session.
Having gone fastest after a few laps when they replaced the fellow Ferrari 296 GT3 drivers of Jordan Love and Stephen Wyatt for Arise Racing GT, the pair’s lap five time of 1:30.869 had remained good enough until it was beaten by Ojeda on lap 14 and then Feeney the following lap.
Pro-Am leaders Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte finished the one-hour practice session fourth on the timesheets after their best time of 1:30.974 came on lap 19 and was just over three tenths off the leading Mercedes-AMG.
Rounding out the top five for the session were newcomers Jonny Reid and Sam Fillmore in the IMS Racing Audi R8 LMS EVO II after recording their best time of 1:31.063 on lap nine.
In the Am Cup, Darren Currie and Grant Donaldson ended up going fastest in class, guiding the 111 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO to a time of 1:34.363, beating fellow Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO drivers Ben Schoots and Shane Woodman of Black Wolf Motorsport by almost two tenths.
GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS will be back on track at 12:50pm AEDT / 2:50pm NZDT for Practice 2.