Monochrome GT4 Australia has kicked off its official GT Festival Hampton Downs campaign with an action-packed Race 1 to end a busy Saturday at Hampton Downs, where drivers from all three classes occupy the overall top five.
With multiple safety car interventions occurring during the highly entertaining outing, a number of the debutants were highly impressive as the Silver-Am and Am Cups were effectively decided due to the sporting regulations of new entries not eligible to score championship points.
Silver-Am Cup
Aaron Seton and Jason Gomersall have been crowned champions-elect of the Silver-Am Cup after creating an unassailable lead in the standings after their two main title rivals in Dean Campbell and Cameron Crick in the DA Campbell Transport Ford Mustang GT4 and GWR’s Daniel Frougas and Tim Berryman in the Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo 2 both retired early after coming together on the opening lap.
While the Gomersall Motorsport Ford Mustang GT4 of Seton was also involved in early drama off the line after contact with Silver Cup gun Jarrod Hughes, he was able to keep the car on track and work it back towards the front of the field before handing the car over to Gomersall, who eventually crossed the line in sixth.
Remarkably, Seton and Gomersall’s sixth-place finish was the only full-season entry in the class to finish the dramatic race as the class top five was made up of all series debutants, meaning the new Silver-Am Cup champions walked away from the wild race with maximum points.
Taking out Silver-Am Cup top honours for the race was the JMG Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO 2 of Tayler Bryant and Jeremy Gray after the former took advantage of that chaotic start to make up multiple positions on the opening lap to third, while Caleb Paterson and Kent Quinn finished second on board the Norganic Proteins Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 MR CS ahead of the Keltic Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO 2 of Daniel Gaunt and Tony Quinn.
All three podium sitters took advantage of the dramatic start as Bryant swiftly made his way to second behind only Greg Murphy in the Grant Aitken Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT4 before dropping back down a couple of spots where he stayed until he gave the car to Gray.
Not long after the pit stops, Gray muscled his way into the class lead towards the end of the race and remained there as he cruised home to the chequered flag XX seconds ahead of Gaunt.
Making up the top five for the class were the other two series debutants, with Shaun Varney and Glenn Chappell in the Racelab Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO 2 finishing ahead of Aitken and Murphy in the Audi, who had enjoyed a temporary lead of the race after some brilliant driving from the latter during the opening lap.
Am Cup
Jacob Lawrence has successfully defended his Am Cup title after claiming the Race 1 win at GT Festival Hampton Downs over series debutant Ryan Sorensen in the Method Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 in a thrilling battle.
Like the Silver-Am Cup title battle, Lawrence managed to seal the deal after his main title rivals in Nathan Callaghan and Chris Lillis retired early after their Method Motorsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS was brought in early due to its involvement in the opening lap drama.
Behind the wheel of his now two-time title-winning BMW M4 GT4 G82, Randall started the race in fourth place and immediately made up a position off the line after squeezing through all the chaos around him.
Lawrence eventually made his way to the front of the class and led for the majority of his first stint before dropping back down the order as a result of his stop. The Victorian then used the late safety car intervention caused by Randall Racing teammate Suzanne Palermo to work himself back into contention for the race victory, which he pulled off after a thrilling late-race pass of Sorensen to cross the line first by just three tenths.
Rounding out the podium for the class was Peter Lawrence in the second Randall Racing BMW M4 GT4 G82 after a brilliant charge during the race saw him make up a class-high six positions to finish seven seconds behind the leading duo.
Although Sorensen didn’t take out the win, it was still an impressive display from the newcomer who led the class in the final stages of the race after replacing fellow debutant James Sax in the Kinloch Club / Mach 1 Mercedes-AMG GT4 right before the final pit stop.
Sax couldn’t hold onto his podium position as he was soon passed by Lawrence to settle fourth overall ahead of Bailey Love and Rob Love in the Love Motorsport TSM Mercedes-AMG GT4.
Silver Cup
While the Am Cup and Silver-Am Cup titles were decided today, the Silver Cup took a dramatic turn ahead of the final race of the year as the overall lead of the class changed hands in the dramatic race at Hampton Downs.
Taking out the victory, and the overall lead of the Silver Cup, were Rylan Gray and George Miedecke in the Miedecke Motorsport with Lubrimaxx entry, which enjoyed a remarkable comeback having dropped to last at the opening corner after avoiding all the drama.
All four other Silver Cup drivers were involved in some form of major drama throughout the race as Jarrod Hughes and Summer Rintoule in the JGI Triple Eight Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 finished second despite being involved in a major incident on the opening lap, while Jake Camilleri rounded out the podium in the Gomersall Motorsport Ford Mustang GT4.
After Hughes was involved in that incident with Aaron Seton off the line that brought out the safety car, series leader and pole-sitter Tom had his advantage reduced right from the start, losing spots at the restart before being involved in a huge hit from Nash Morris not long after.
The incident turned the Method Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 of Hayman and caused some damage, and despite the best efforts from teammate Max Geoghegan, the pair could only salvage fifth.
That crucial incident between Morris and Hayman opened the door for Gray and Miedecke to storm to a race win and assume the lead in the GT4 title, despite the former going wide off track multiple times throughout the race.
However, when Miedecke got on track, he made no errors from the front of the field and raced out to a big lead following the last safety car restart to extinguish any hope that Rintoule had of chasing him down after she herself had showed plenty of pace in the run to the chequered flag.
With just one race remaining for the season, the Silver Cup will go to the final race of the year, which takes place at 11:25am AEDT / 1:25pm on Sunday 2 November.