Monochrome GT4 Australia has wrapped up GT Festival The Bend with a bang as three different manufacturers took out top honours across the three classes in the final race of the weekend.
While there was plenty of drama to occur on the opening lap that brought out an early safety car, the race was highly entertaining as drivers put on a show for the Shell V-Power Motorsport Park crowd.
Silver-Am Cup
Ryder Quinn and Steve Jakic took a remarkable outright and Silver-Am victory behind the wheel of the Thunder Buddies Racing / TekworkX Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 G82 after the pair started the race outside the top 20.
In what was their first win in the series, the victory came off the back of an unforgettable stint from Quinn, who replicated his Race 1 efforts to navigate his way through the field and pick off drivers one by one – eventually taking the Silver-Am lead off Aaron Seton before going first overall in the final few minutes of the race.
That incredible run included a lap record shortly after replacing Jakic in the BMW and some memorable moves on the Silver class drivers to ultimately get them a win for the ages.
Seton ended up crossing the line in second place in the Gomersall Motorsport Ford Mustang GT4, earning solid points for him and Jason Gomersall on the class standings, while yesterday’s winners Aaron Cameron and Ryan Hansford rounded out the podium in the Multispares Racing Ford Mustang GT4.
Earlier in the race, it was Cameron Crick and Dean Campbell in the DA Campbell Transport Ford Mustang GT4 who were the star performances for the class as a quick Campbell and good strategy helped Crick leave the pits in the class lead. However, a penalty for a pitlane infringement took away any hope of taking the win – the pair’s fifth place keeping them in the title fight.
The race did see one title contender suffer a major blow towards their campaign, with the GWR Toyota Supra GT4 of Daniel Frougas and Tim Berryman coming to a halt shortly after the pit stops midway through the race.
Silver Cup
Tom Hayman and Max Geoghegan completed a clean sweep of Silver Cup race wins for the weekend after the pair claimed a three-second victory over the JGI Triple Eight Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Jarrod Hughes and Summer Rintoule.
Following a brilliant recovery drive from Geoghegan in yesterday’s race, both Method Motorsport drivers produced strong stints behind the wheel of their McLaren Artura GT4, with Hayman bringing the car home in top spot after an exciting battle for the lead with the Purdie Racing Audi R8 LMS of Blake Purdie and Daniel Price.
While Purdie ultimately lost the fight with Hayman and eventually dropped behind Hughes to cross the finish line in third, the South Australian was handed a five-second penalty for an earlier incident, which promoted title contenders Rylan Gray and George Miedecke to the final step of the podium in the Miedecke Motorsport with Lubrimaxx Ford Mustang GT4.
The battle between the Method Motorsport McLaren and the Miedecke Motorsport Ford Mustang began right from the get-go, as Geoghegan and Miedecke fought hard in the opening stages while also pulling away from the rest of the field.
As the McLaren and Mustang headed into their pit stops, Purdie assumed the lead and held firm for much of the second half of the race. It wasn’t until the pressure from Hayman eventually told that the Audi driver was forced to concede, with Hayman making a decisive pass to reclaim the lead. Hughes then followed through past Purdie to slot into second, before Gray closed the gap to within five seconds of the Audi to capitalise on Purdie’s penalty.
There were some Silver Cup drivers caught out in the opening-lap drama, with GT Festival Sandown race winner Jake Camilleri losing control of his Gomersall Motorsport Ford Mustang GT4 and making contact with multiple cars. Among those eliminated were class title contenders Cody Burcher and Tim Leahey in the ASM BMW, both forced out of the race.
Am Cup
One of the big winners from the opening-lap drama was the Method Motorsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS of Chris Lillis and Nathan Callaghan, who went on to take the win and keep themselves in the hunt for the class title.
The pair ended up finishing just eight-tenths ahead of class leader Jacob Lawrence in the Randall Racing BMW M4 GT4, while 99motorsport’s Marcus LaDelle and Jarrod Keyte rounded out the class podium.
For the majority of the first half of the race, both LaDelle and Lillis led the way after avoiding all the opening-lap drama – Lillis being the big winner after making up multiple positions on fellow Method Motorsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS driver Shane Smollen and Lawrence.
Lillis’ co-driver Callaghan was eventually given the lead when LaDelle came into the pits to switch to Keyte after waiting late into the window, and the Method Motorsport Porsche held the lead for the remainder of the race after Keyte came out behind Gomersall Motorsport’s Glenn Walker in his BMW M4 GT4 F82.
LaDelle started from the front and held his position, waiting right until the end of the pit stop. Lillis was the big winner, making up positions on Smollen and Lawrence to move into second, while Smollen dropped further down behind Aaron and Walker having to avoid the incident.
However, once pit stops were complete, Callaghan came out on top with Glenn Walker ahead of Jarrod Keyte, and the leader eventually brought the Porsche home in top spot.
Despite being caught up in the drama on the opening lap, Lawrence slowly worked his way back up the order as he picked off both Keyte and Walker towards the end of the race to secure a well-deserved runner-up finish and more points towards his title defence.