It’s been a troubled start to the season for father-son duo Stephen Grove and Brenton Grove.

Stephen sat out round one at Phillip Island due to illness and they missed the second round of the series at The Bend due to prior commitments.

Now the pair will return to racing in the sunshine state with their Mercedes-AMG GT3.

“It’s going to be great to be back in the Mercedes and also to be back racing in Australia,” said Brenton.

“I haven’t raced at QR for a while, so it will be good fun.

“We didn’t get to complete the full weekend at PI due to Steve’s illness, so fingers crossed we are able to make the full weekend this time.

“Having recently tested at QR I think it will suit the Mercedes really well. The aero works to the strengths of the Mercedes, as do the long straights.

“It was great at the test day, so hopefully we can back it up on the weekend.”

The pair return with their sights set on the podium.

They’ll face stiff competition from the leading Ferrari and Audi teams, however.

Arise Racing teammates Chaz Mostert and Liam Talbot sit atop the drivers’ standings ahead of Melbourne Performance Centre’s Will Brown and Brad Schumacher.

Brendon Leitch and Tim Miles sit third in the other Audi R8 LMS GT3 while Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte hold down fourth in the second of the Ferrari 296 GT3 machines.

The Groves have no points to their name yet despite contesting the first round. Stephen’s absence from the car meant they were ineligible for points.

“A podium is certainly the goal,” Brenton said.

“It’s going to be hard as the competition is extremely strong and we haven’t driven for a while.

“However, that won’t stop us from having a big crack!”

Round four of GT World Challenge Australia forms part of the Shannons SpeedSeries category line-up at Queensland Raceway on August 2-4.