The first Monochrome GT4 Australia race of the weekend has been run and won with Tom Hayman and Marcos Flack edging ever so closer to a Silver Cup title after taking out an impressive victory.
With a strong field of more than 20 cars battling their way through a range of weather conditions, Hayman and Flack charged their way to the front after starting from outside the top 10.
The Silver Cup winners weren't the only ones to produce a memorable performance during the one-hour outing, with Zoe Woods and Dan Jilesen securing the Pro-Am victory after a thrilling four-way battle in the class.
Rounding out the pool of classes were AM winners Jacob Lawrence and John Bowe, who guided the #32 BMW M4 to a five-second victory.
When it came to the race itself, there was no shortage of movers and shakers as the drama began right from the get-go.
While every car got off the line with no issues, the first casualty came shortly after the start with Volante Rosso’s Sam Brabham clipping a rival car, which sent him to the pits on the opening lap.
The team was able to get the Love Motorsport Mercedes back on track, however he spent the remaining hour chasing the pack - eventually crossing the line two laps off the winning McLaren Artura GT4.
Starting within the middle of the pack, Flack had a big task on his hands but the Queenslander certainly delivered during his stint - battling his way into eighth overall from 11th before handing the car over to Hayman in a good position on lap 14.
Hayman then powered his way up the order over the next five laps to put himself within reach of the overall lead - his final barrier being the #35 Ford Mustang of George Miedeke and Rylan Gray - the latter of which was behind the wheel.
Over the next few laps, Hayman and Gray exchanged the lead before Hayman pulled off an incredible move around the outside of the Mustang on lap 24 - an overtake that would prove the race-winning move.
From that point onwards, Hayman slowly moved away from Gray to reach the chequered flag five seconds ahead - a victory that helped them move further ahead in the Silver Cup class title.
Rounding out the top Silver Cup three was the BMW M4 GT4 of Tim Leahey and Cody Burcher, who finished more than a minute behind and much further down the order.
The battles for other podiums proved significantly closer than the Silver Cup, especially the Pro-Ams, which saw Woods and Jilesen claim an epic victory.
Much like Hayman and Flack, the Tekworkx Motorsport drivers were required to work their way up the order - Jilesen moving up from P12 to eighth overall on lap 14 before Woods guided the pair’s Porsche 718 Cayman to third overall and a solid five-second victory over Aaron Seton and Jason Gomersall.
Seton and Gomersall looked to have locked in the class victory, having led the class for nine laps until Woods got past the Ford Mustang on the third last lap.
From that point, she held onto the lead and clinched the victory, becoming the first woman to secure a class win in the series.
Taking out third place was Steve Jakic and Ryder Quinn after the latter led the overall field for the first 19 laps and posted a new GT4 lap record.
Jacob Lawrence has put one hand on the 2024 AM title after a comfortable victory, having led for the majority of the race alongside co-driver John Bowe. The pair ended up finishing five seconds ahead of Anthony Soole, who enjoyed an impressive series debut in his McLaren 570S.
Lawrence just needs to pick up one more point over the series’ next three races in order to seal the AM title.
In third place for the class was Anthony Levitt, who finished a further nine seconds and remarkably rounded out the overall top 10.
Monochrome GT4 Australia will be back in action tomorrow for another one-hour race from 12:40pm AEDT.