Shahin holds off Tander in Aus GT Race 2

Yasser Shahin delivered a surprise victory in the second Australian GT Championship race at Phillip Island.

The Australian GT rookie led the early stages having started from the front row before dropping to fourth ahead of the mandatory pit stops.

Shahin fought valiantly against an array of professional drivers in the opening stint before eventually succumbing to Dean Canto (Lamborghini) and Craig Baird (Mercedes).

After taking his compulsory pit stop from fourth, Shahin then launched an attack on the lead group after rejoining the race in the same position.

The South Australian managed to pass the M Motorsport Lamborghini of Glen Wood for the lead in the final five minutes of the race.

Wood had no answer for Shahin who opened up a healthy lead, as the Jamec Pem Racing Audi of Garth Tander closed in on the top two after a storming second stint.

In the end, Shahin took the chequered flag from a hard charging Tander who scythed his way from 13th during his run.

Wood was left to settle for third in the Gallardo he shared with Justin McMillan.

The Tekno Autosports McLaren of Matt Kingsley and Grant Denyer produced a solid drive throughout to finish fourth.

Equally as impressive was former Australian Formula 3 driver Ricky Capo who ran inside the top 10 for the entire race, ending up in fifth spot at the wheel of the BMW Z4.

Meanwhile, Liam Talbot’s return to Australian GT yielded a sixth place finish in the Audi he shared with Jake Fouracre.

Eggleston Motorsport’s Peter Hackett ran strongly in the second stint to claim seventh ahead of the Scott Taylor/Craig Baird Mercedes and the Cameron McConville/Adrian Deitz Ferrari 458 GT3.

Race one winner and pole-sitter Nathan Morcom ran as high as fifth in the opening stint, but was left to fight back from 20th after the pit stops to round out the top 10.

Shane van Gisbergen was the star of the opening half of the race as he secured the lead on the second lap which he held until the pit stops.

The Kiwi handed the car to Klark Quinn in 21st position. The former Australian GT champion could only recover to 16th spot in the remainder of the race.

Meanwhile, the SRM BMW M6 GT3 looked to be on course for a second top 10 finish before a problem saw it enter the pits in the closing stages.

Canto was another driver to miss out on a strong result as a mechanical issue saw him retire the Taplin Lamborghini while involved in a lead group battle in the first half of the race.

The race was punctuated by two Safety Car periods. The first was caused by the stranded Walkinshaw Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, while an off from the Miedecke Aston Martin prompted the second deployment.

Australian GT will be back in action on Sunday for the inaugural round of the Australian Endurance Championship.

Speedcafe.com will broadcast the round in its entirety.

Result: Australian GT Championship Race 2