Monochrome GT4 Australia got Round 2 off to a flying start to the LIQUI MOLY GT Festival at The Bend as the strong field of 33 cars battled wild weather at Shell V-Power Motorsport Park during Practice 1.
Silver
Setting the pace for the first session of the day was the Purdie Racing duo of Blake Purdie and Jobe Stewart, as the pair guided their Audi R8 LMS EVO to 1:56.5917 - a brilliant start to the season for the South Australian duo.
Going second fastest was the DNA Autosport GR Supra GT4 of Rylan Gray and Taylor Bryant, who were more than one second off the pace having set their fastest lap towards the start of the session.
Rounding out the top three by an extremely small margin was Aaron Cameron and Lachlan Dalton in the Multispares Racing Ford Mustang GT4 with a best lap time of 1:57.888 - just two hundredths of a second off the GR Supra - highlighting the diversity of the class with three different manufacturers as the three fastest.
As crews did their best to navigate the conditions, Wallis Motorsport’s Jack Wallis and Sam Paley were the only ones to have a major issue as their rear bumper came off midway through the session, which brought out the red flag temporarily.
Silver-Am
Leading the way in Silver-Am were reigning champions Aaron Seton and Jason Gomersall in the Gomersall Motorsport Ford Mustang GT4 with a time of 1:56.913 - just three tenths off the fastest Silver duo of Purdie and Stewart.
It was another GR Supra GT4 who finished second for the session with Lachlan Evennett and Andrew Torti just four tenths off Seton and Gomersall after their fast lap also came towards the start of the session.
Ekebol MPC’s Tony D’Alberto took the reins of the team’s Ford Mustang GT4 for the full session and ended up third fastest for the session.
Am Cup
In the Am Cup, it was a different manufacturer to top the session with Method Motorsport’s Nathan Callaghan and Chris Lillis in the Porsche 718 Cayman going fastest.
The pair produced an unbeaten time of 2:00.26 early in the session as the next crew to come close to topping them was the Ford Mustang GT4 of Gomersall Motorsport’s Glenn Walker, who posted a best time of 2:00.78 - just half a second splitting the top three.
Making up the top three for the class in Practice 1 with a lap time of 2:02.16 was Love Racing by TSM’s Bailey and Rob Love in the Mercedes-AMG GT4.
Monochrome GT4 Australia has just one session remaining which takes place at 1:45pm ACST.