It was a perfect weekend for BMW as Tim Leahey and Cody Burcher sealed the Silver Cup win in Race 2 of Monochrome GT4 Australia at the GT Festival.
In clear conditions at Phillip Island, the Central West Prestige BMW M4 GT4 G82 entered Signpoint Victory Lane after Leahey chased down the Method Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 of Marcos Flack and Tom Hayman inside the final 10-minutes.
A mechanical malady for the Miedecke Motorsport/Lubrimaxx Ford Mustang forced it into retirement, denting George Miedecke and Rylan Gray’s Silver Cup title aspirations.
Ryder Quinn’s performance highlighted his Pro-Am Cup victory in the Black Diamond Building and Construction BMW with Steve Jakic. The Method Motorsport Porsche 718 GT4 MR CS of Shane Smollen and Lachlan Mineeff continued its charge towards the class crown in second from Nemo Racing’s Nash and Paul Morris in the McLaren 570s GT4.
Am Cup was decided late as Mark Griffith took the win from the Randall Racing BMW M4 GT4 G82 of Jamie Augustine and Peter Lawrence. Despite a spin, the Love father-son combination of Bailey and Rob completed the podium.
Starting from pole, Gray made the perfect jump and set about building a margin from Burcher, who in turn had Hayman.
Second in Race 1, the Love Racing by Volante Rosso Motorsport of Antonio Astuti found trouble at Turn 4 when a warning came up on the dash. A quick control-alt-delete fixed this problem as Astuti went on to set the fastest final sector in the race.
There was further drama this time for Gray in the race leading Miedecke Motorsport/Lubrimaxx Ford Mustang as smoke started to emerge from the rear on lap 2 and Burcher began to close. A mechanical black flag was given to Gray and he entered the lane as the crew inspected the right-hand-side of the Mustang for the cause, but this was in vain as it was put in the garage.
Am Cup contender Jacob Lawrence was also an early retirement in the Randall Racing BMW M4 GT4 G82 following a collision with the TekworkX Motorsport Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 MR CS of Zoe Woods.
In front, Burcher continued to build a margin growing it to 2.9s at the 20-minute mark of the race from Hayman and Oscar Targett maintained third in the Ginetta G56 GT4.
Shane Smollen held down the Pro-Am Cup lead in the Method Motorsport Porsche, but the margin was close back to the Nemo Racing McLaren 570s GT4 heading towards the pit stops.
After an early race battle, Anthony Levitt emerged as the leader in Am Cup driving the Method Motorsport McLaren from the Team Nineteen Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Mark Griffith and Peter Lawrence in the sole remaining Randall Racing BMW.
Burcher continued to lead Silver Cup as the margin back to Hayman stabilised to 2.6s as the pit stops began.
Despite the earlier setback, Astuti had moved inside the top five in a solid recovery drive when he stopped.
The pit stops cycled through with the biggest shuffle being in Pro-Am Cup. Lachlan Mineeff emerged after replacing Smollen with Ryder Quinn right behind in the Black Diamond Building and Construction BMW.
Another change was to the Silver Cup standings as Flack had taken over from Hayman to assume the lead from Leahey after he swapped with Burcher.
Class battles were throughout the field as in Am Cup, contact was made between Griffith and Levitt as the latter took the lead approaching Turn 2.
It was a disappointing result for the TekworkX Motorsport Porsche as smoke emerged from the rear as the pit stops approached, but as Tom McLennan took over it failed to dissipate and ended in retirement with 13-minutes remaining.
In Silver Cup, Leahey was closing on Flack with every lap and caught the Method Motorsport McLaren as the clock ticked to 10-minutes remaining.
Behind the lead pair in Silver Cup, Targett continued to hold third from Gomersall Motorsport’s Jake Camilleri and Brabham.
Quinn had asserted his place at the top of Pro-Am Cup field by extending his lead to 9s as Mineeff held a comfortable margin to Nash Morris in third.
The battle for Am Cup continued as Griffith now held the lead from Levitt, but the margin remained tight.
However, when Leahey came to lap the leading Am Cup duo contact was made between the BMW and Levitt damaging the McLaren’s steering as it retired.
This allowed Griffith to score victory from the Augustine/Lawrence BMW and the Love father-son team in the Love Racing by Volante Rosso Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4.
Quinn/Jakic secured their second Pro-Am Cup victory of the season from Mineeff/Smollen and Morris/Morris.
Targett completed the Silver Cup podium in the Ginetta as Leahey/Burcher and Flack/Hayman filled out the top two positions.