The first Monochrome GT4 Australia race of GT Festival Sandown has been run and won with no shortage of drama in the series’ maiden outing as a standalone series on the famous Sandown International circuit.
In front of a decent Melbourne crowd on Saturday, the 27 cars put on a show during the 37-lap affair, as plenty of action ensued at many points throughout the race.
Silver Cup
Rylan Gray and George Miedecke each produced a masterclass in their respective stints to steer the Miedecke Motorsport with Lubrimaxx Ford Mustang GT4 to a well-deserved victory.
Despite having had a longer compulsory pit stop than their rivals and having to navigate a safety car restart, the pair ended up coming away with an impressive 10-second victory, with Jarrod Hughes and Summer Rintoule classified second in the JGI Triple Eight Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4.
Although the McLaren Artura GT4 of Method Motorsport’s Tom Hayman and Max Geoghegan crossed the line in second place ahead of the Triple Eight Mercedes, the pair was classified third after receiving a 15-second penalty due to the Geoghegan’s contact with Tim Leahey in the Ash Seward Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 G82 he shares with Cody Burcher in the final stages of the race.
Earlier in the outing, there was no shortage of chaos as TekworkX’s Nash Morris was involved in a number of altercations with drivers from the Silver-Am Cup, which resulted in Ryder Quinn in the tyre wall.
Ahead of him, Gray made a dream start and had built a lead of almost eight seconds at points in his stint, while fellow title contender Hayman was struggling and dropped a number of places.
With Gray on his lonesome at the front, the battle for second behind was heating up as Hughes eventually got the better of Burcher following some minor issues before reducing the gap to the leader by half.
Following the compulsory pit stops, Tim Leahey came out in the lead once he received the car from Burcher, with Rintoule in second and Miedecke in third.
It didn’t take long for Miedecke to get past Rintoule before the safety car was brought out later in the race, allowing Miedecke to get the jump on Leahey on the restart.
After Hayman had a tough start to the race, teammate Geoghegan charged his way up the field once getting in the car, only for his good work to be undone when he had the contact with Leahey, which sent the BMW down the order and received the penalty.
As a result of Geoghegan’s 15-second penalty, Rintoule was promoted to second place, rewarding the strong effort from her and Hughes.
Silver-Am
Daniel Frougas and Tim Berryman have found themselves back on the Silver-Am winners' list after taking out a highly impressive nine-second class victory.
Behind the wheel of the GWR Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO, the pair ended up finishing two places higher than where they started after they took advantage of the drama involving class rivals.
Finishing in second place was the Gomersall Motorsport Ford Mustang GT4 of Aaron Seton and Jason Gomersall, while the second Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO of Keltic Racing’s Matt McCutcheon and Tony Quinn rounded out the podium a further five seconds off.
Right from the get-go, there was plenty happening for the class as debutant Jay Murray had a learning moment in his first ever race start, spinning off the line in the McElrea Racing BMW M4 GT4 G82 EVO he drives with father Nathan, before Ryder Quinn had his moment with Nash Morris – effectively ending his and Steve Jakic’s hopes for a maiden win this season.
Aaron Cameron in the Multispares Racing Ford Mustang GT4 was the next to have dramas as he had contact with Nash Morris, before eventually taking the lead.
Following the hectic start, the class calmed down in the middle stint of the race as Seton battled hard and got the move on McCutcheon for second place, while Cameron’s co-driver Ryan Hansford dropped to fourth.
Am Cup
The Am Cup was almost the most straightforward cup for most of the race as Nathan Callaghan and Chris Lillis looked to have cruised to a comfortable victory.
However, in the end, it was reigning class champion Jacob Lawrence in the Randall Racing BMW M4 GT4 G82 who took out the vital win, beating title rival Shane Smollen by three seconds, while 99motorsport/ Hansa Equipment's Marcus LaDelle and Jarrod Keyte finished third ahead of the Method Motorsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS of Callaghan and Lillis.
While most of the race went smoothly for the series, it wasn’t until Rob Love in the Love Motorsport TSM Mercedes-AMG GT4 spun out, bringing out the yellow flag.
Not long after, Smollen was clipped from behind by Glenn Walker in the Gomersall Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 F82 under the yellow flag – which ended up with both Walker and Love eventually retiring.
AR Nineteen teammates Jamie Arratoon and Mark Griffith then had contact with five minutes to go, wrapping up a chaotic end to the class.
Monochrome GT4 Australia continues on Sunday with the second and final race of GT Festival Sandown to take place at 11:30 AEST.