More than 30 cars have been confirmed for the opening round of Monochrome GT4 Australia at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit as the growing category kicks off the 2025 season with a bang.
A record-breaking field of 31 cars will grace the famous Victorian circuit during the first Shannons SpeedSeries event for the year, with a diverse range of returning stars, race winners and new faces making up the entry list.
In addition to the impressive cast of driving power set to get the season underway is the number of manufacturers to feature throughout the season, with eight different brands locked in for Phillip Island.
Many of the regular brands will return for the series’ second full season, including BMW, Ginetta, McLaren, Ford, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche. However, the new arrival of Toyota has been one of the major talking points in the off-season, with two cars entered for the season opener.
Audi will also make its full-time return in 2025, having debuted during the series’ second visit to Phillip Island in last year’s campaign, making it seven of the eight entered brands eligible to score points towards the global GT4 Manufacturer Ranking system.
The Audi R8 GT4 will be in the Silver Cup through newcomers Blake Purdie and Daniel Price and feature in the strong nine-car field, headlined by Method Motorsport with its two-McLaren Artura GT4s and its line-up of Tom Hayman, Max Geoghegan, Nathan Morcom and Lochie Hancock.
In Silver Cup, almost every brand is represented, including Tim Leahey and Cody Burcher in the BMW M4 GT4 G82, Queenslanders Nash Morris and Zoe Woods in the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS and JGI Triple Eight Racing’s Summer Rintoule and Jarrod Hughes in the successful team’s new Mercedes-AMG GT4.
George Miedecke and Rylan Gray also make their return to the category after a big year in 2024, and once again the talented duo will be behind the wheel of their Ford Mustang GT4. Remarkably, they won’t be the only Ford representatives this year with a further three Mustangs to be on the grid – all three of which are in the Silver-Am Cup.
The recently rebranded Silver-Am Cup (formerly Pro-Am Cup) welcomes nine cars to the fold, including those three Ford Mustangs, with six manufacturers represented and a host of big names entered.
Some of the notable drivers for fans to look out for include last year’s class winner Lachlan Mineeff and new co-driver Rob Rubis, Supercars driver Cameron Crick and long-time partner Dean Campbell, Super2 young gun Lachlan Dalton and fellow Tasmanian Ben Newman, experienced campaigner Aaron Seton and team owner Jason Gomersall, new boys Zac Soutar and Glenn Nirwan and two-time TCR Australia champion Josh Buchan, who rejoins Jason Yu.
The class will also see one of the two Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO 2s entered in the category, with Garth Walden Racing’s Daniel Frougas and Tim Berryman enjoying the honour of driving the car.
Rounding out the class is Ryder Quinn and Stevan Jakic in the BMW M4 GT4 G82 and the family entry of Jack Wallis and Jed Wallis in the Ford Mustang GT4.
Boasting the largest field of the three classes though, is the Am Cup, with an impressive 13 cars from six different brands to line up in the first round of the season.
Leading the class’ entry list is last year’s champion Jacob Lawrence, who will be running solo in 2025 and heads up a strong Randall Racing lineup of three BMW M4 GT4s, including the husband-wife duo of Sue and Lib Palermo, who make their series debuts in Phillip Island, and the returning Peter Lawrence and Jamie Augustine.
The Victorian-based outfit won’t be the only three-car team in the class either, with AR Nineteen Motorsport running a trio of Mercedes-AMG GT4s with John Nikolovski, Jamie Arratoon and Mark Griffith all running them.
McElrea Racing makes its grand return to GT racing through its collaborative effort with Morris’ Nathan Murray, who will run a BMW M4 GT4 G82 EVO, while Tony Quinn is running the category’s second Toyota GR Supra in the Am Class in a solo effort.
Other notable entries include Anthony Soole and Grant Denyer will be there on the grid after re-building their McLaren, Mark Cottrell returns in his Ginetta G55 GT4 with co-driver Christopher Whittaker in the hopes of fight for Am class honours, as does Rob and Bailey Love in their Mercedes-AMG GT4.
In addition to Randall Racing and AR Nineteen Motorsport, both Method Motorsport and Gomersall Motorsport have three entries each – only theirs are spread across multiple classes. For Method, Nathan Callaghan and Chris Lillis have entered their Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS into the Am class, while Gomersall Motorsport’s Glenn Walker is in the class with his BMW M4 GT4 F82. Gomersall’s final entry is the solo effort of Jake Camilleri.
The action for the series gets underway on Friday with Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying, two Qualifying sessions and the first of its two one-hour races on Saturday before wrapping up on Sunday with its second race.
Monochrome GT4 Australia opens its 2025 season at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries’ GT Festival Phillip Island on 4-6 April.
Tickets can be purchased via speedseries.com.au/tickets
QUOTES
Ben McMellan
CEO, SRO Motorsports Australia
“Very few national categories in Australia have more than 30 entries at rounds, so to have that many in what is effectively our second solo season is a remarkable achievement,” said McMellan.
“A lot of effort has gone in behind the scenes to build this category, and it’s fantastic to see that work paying off as there is lots of excitement building from so many drivers and teams who are getting behind the series.
“The most impressive thing about this entry list, though, is diversity—not just from a manufacturer’s point of view, but from the driving list too. All three classes have good numbers entered and a range of talent, so it should be fascinating to see what transpires over the course of the season.
“We are extremely proud of this, and I am sure the fans will be highly entertained at every round of the Shannons SpeedSeries watching these crews put on a show for all.”