George Miedecke and Rylan Gray have made up for yesterday’s disappointment to guide their Miedecke Motorsport/Lubrimaxx Ford Mustang GT4 to a dominant Silver Cup victory in the first-ever three hour event for Monochrome GT4 Australia.
Taking place at Queensland Raceway, the pair’s victory came off the back of a key strategy move that allowed the Mustang to defeat arch-rivals Method Motorsport and its pair of McLaren Artura GT4s.
Leading the Method Motorsport charge for the race was Tom Hayman and Marcos Flack, who finished just under 50 seconds behind the winners, while pole sitters Tom McLennan and Nathan Morcom rounded out the podium.
In the Am Cup, John Bowe wound back the clock to produce an emphatic victory in the Randall Racing BMW M4 GT4 G82 he shares with Jacob Lawrence, holding off teammates Jamie Augustine and Peter Lawrence in some frantic final stages.
There was also plenty of drama in the Pro-Am Class, as Game Over’s Tony Quinn and Matthew McCutcheon took out the victory over Nash Morris and Mark Griffith in the Team Nineteen Mercedes-AMG GT after producing a similar strategy to the outright race-winning Ford Mustang GT4.
As for the race itself, it was a Method Motorsport front row courtesy of the squad’s 1-2 in yesterday’s opening race, but it wasn’t Tom McLennan leading during the opening stint as team-mate Tom Hayman held the advantage.
Although briefly losing second to Miedecke, McLennan was able to move past and remain in touch with the sister McLaren until Hayman pitted just prior to the first hour being complete.
McLennan took the lead until he pitted not long after handing it to Miedecke, with his team electing to run a long opening stint pitting more than hour into the race setting up a flexible strategy.
Other strong performances in the opening stint came from Am Class leader Jacob Lawrence placing sixth outright and Jake Camilleri in the Gomersall Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 in fourth.
The low ambient temperature worked a treat for the two McLarens as the duo traded lap records, with McLennan taking the honours on a 1m 13.137s.
Marcos Flack took over from Hayman and immediately came out in front of Miedecke leading to a battle albeit the McLaren being a couple of laps down, but the Mustang was able to find a way past.
Miedecke was able to match the McLarens until late into his stint, but still had work to do to come out in front of the Method Motorsport entries.
Nathan Morcom was now at the wheel after relieving McLennan as, behind the top three, the leading Pro-Am entry of Method Motorsport’s Shane Smollen in the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 MR CS shared with Lachlan Mineeff held a comfortable margin.
Gray was now at the wheel of the Mustang and had re-joined the circuit behind the McLarens, but remained within touch as this became crucial when a safety car came out.
With an hour left to go, Rob Love in the Love Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 spun into the Turn 1 sand trap allowing the Mustang to complete a strategy masterstroke and pit, which included a change to four new tyres.
Miedecke emerged nearly a lap ahead of the McLarens, but within the class battles drama was still to play out.
The Pro-Am leader for much of the race, the Method Motorsport Porsche was struggling with brakes as Smollen went off at Turn 1, before it was parked by Mineeff as the struggles grew too much of a risk.
However, it was another Porsche taking advantage of Quinn and McCutcheon. Following a similar strategy to the Miedecke Mustang, the Game Over Porsche with McCutcheon was attempting a late charge to catch Morcom for an outright podium.
Third place in Pro-Am was close to going down to the wire as Sam Brabham in the Love Racing Mercedes-AMG shared by Bailey Love was being caught by two charging young guns, who were battling themselves. Ryder Quinn driving the Black Diamond Building and Construction BMW M4 GT4 G82 was under pressure from the Mark Cotterell Master Jeweller Ginetta G55 GT4 of Jarrod Hughes, but both were closing on Brabham.
In Am, John Bowe sharing with Lawrence led the way from Randall Racing team-mates Peter Lawrence and Jamie Augustine, who held a lap from the Buckby Motorsport Mercedes-AMG of Ben Newman and Beric Lynton.
In the end though, it was Tony Quinn and McCutcheon who scored the Pro-Am win over the impressive Morris and Griffith, while Brabham/Love held on for third.
A thrilling Am Cup battle fell to Lawrence/Bowe from teammates Lawrence/Augustine, as Lynton bought the Buckby Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 third partnered by Newman.
The only DNF was the Mackay Goodwin Lloyds Auctions Ginetta G55 GT4 to be shared by Scott Turner and Rob Rubis after it lost third gear early in the race.
Next on the calendar is the inaugural SRO GT Festival at Phillip Island on August 23-25.