In their Ford Mustang, the duo completed 133 laps and were 51.6s ahead of the Method Motorsport McLaren Artura driven by Marcos Flack and Tom Hayman with their teammates Nathan Morcom and Tom McLennan a further 10.9s adrift.
Fourth place behind the three Silver class cars were Matt McCutcheon and Tony Quinn (Porsche 718 Cayman) who won Pro-Am ahead of class rivals Mark Griffith and Nash Morris (Mercedes-AMG) and Bailey Love and Sam Brabham (Mercedes-AMG).
The Am battle went right down to the wire between the Randall Racing team BMW M4 G82s. They were line astern at the finish with John Bowe/Jacob Lawrence ahead of Jamie Augustine/Peter Lawrence.
The McLarens led from the outset after they were split by Miedecke initially, with McLennan ahead of Hayman. They had a 9.6s advantage over the Mustang by the end of the first hour.
Shane Smollen (Porsche) started sixth and systematically worked past Steve Jakic (BMW) and then Jake Camilleri (Mercedes-AMG) to be third. Fifth by one third distance was Jacob Lawrence from Tony Quinn, Danny Stutterd (Porsche), Jakic, Baily Love and Ben Newman in Mercedes-AMGs. In as little as 23mins, the leaders were negotiating lapped traffic.
The Mustang ran 54 laps before Miedecke pitted for Gray, some 18 and 26mins after the two McLarens underwent their first laps. With the end of the second hour looming, Gray led. Flack and Morcom had both done stints and handed back to their respective codrivers.
Secure your spot today.
Lachlan Mineeff had handed back to Smollen fourth as had Aaron Seton to Camilleri and they were fifth. Then followed Brabham/Love, Jakic/Ryder Quinn, McCutcheon/Quinn and Lawrence/Bowe.
As the last hour started, Rob Love spun and beached his Mercedes-AMG at Turn 1 which necessitated the Safety Car. Gray immediately pitted and Miedecke was able to retain the lead. But they would still need another stop to meet the maximum allowable driver time.
Their lead when the race went green was just under a minute and it began to gradually diminish. With 34mins to go, Miedecke was in for the final changeover and both McLarens were also due to make their third mandatory stops.
With all stops done and 20mins to go, Gray led flack by 55.9s with 11.3s to Morcom. A lap down was McCutcheon in fourth with fifth-placed Seton a further lap behind. Zoe Woods and Stutterd were next despite a drive-through penalty.
The Mineeff/Smollen Porsche came to the pits out of fourth and retired with no brakes. The Seton/Camilleri Mercedes was another that had a late stop, a drive-through penalty for a pit infringement.
Discussion about this post