Steve McLaughlan held firm despite a late Safety Car period to score victory in an action packed Australian GT opener at Barbagallo Raceway.

The Jamec Pem Racing Audi emerged in the lead after benefiting from a shorter compulsory pit stop time compared to the front runners who set the pace in the first half of the race.

A late Safety Car caused by an incident involving Greg Taylor (Audi) and Max Twigg (BMW) put the win in doubt but McLaughlan controlled the final stages to take the chequered flag.

A late charge from Nathan Morcom (McLaren) saw him claim second ahead of the championship leading Audi of Marcus Marshall and James Koundouris.

The race commenced on a damp but drying track which saw the entire field fit wet tyres.

Marco Bonanomi (Audi) made no mistakes from pole as the Audi factory driver sprinted into a six second lead from Barton Mawer (Audi), while the Mercedes of Craig Baird shot up to third in the early stages.

As the race progressed a visible dry line began to appear which saw drivers struggle for grip on the wet weather rubber.

A spin from Ricky Capo in the BMW Z4 GT3 at Turn 1 saw the Safety Car deployed on lap 16 well before the pit stop window.

Bonanomi chose to pit under the caution period for slicks along with Jonathon Webb (McLaren) and Nathan Antunes (McLaren).

The leader rejoined the race on the lead lap unlike Webb and Antunes who went a lap down.

Meanwhile, Baird took the lead of the encounter from Mawer when racing resumed, but it wasn’t long before the majority of the field pitted outside the window for slicks.

Equipped with slick tyres, Bonanomi stormed back up to second as he took advantage of tyre stops taking place.

He then regained the lead with a move on Baird, who then pitted to hand the Mercedes over to Scott Taylor.

Bonanomi soon handed the car to Geoff Emery having built up a 28 second lead as the race entered the second half.

Following the compulsory stop, Emery rejoined the race in ninth as McLaughlan inherited a 12 second lead over Tony Quinn’s Aston Martin.

The pair benefited from shorter compulsory stop times to move to the head of the field with Tony Walls’ McLaren in third ahead of Morcom (McLaren), Marshall (Audi) and Dean Canto (Lamborghini).

Marshall, who took over from James Koundouris, appeared to be among the contenders for the victory but a spin on lap 36 saw him drop down the order.

Contact involving Taylor’s Audi and Twigg’s BMW at Kolb corner sparked a Safety Car with a little over 15 minutes remaining.

Racing resumed with 12 minutes to go with McLaughlan leading Tony Quinn, Morcom, Canto and Marshall.

While McLaughlan stayed calm, Morcom and Marshall shot by Quinn to claim second and third on the podium.

Klark Quinn secured fourth ahead of Roger Lago (Lamborghini), while Emery finished sixth in the Audi which led the first half of the race.

Aaron Tebb brought the Walkinshaw Racing Porsche in seventh despite a spin from co-driver John Martin in the early stages.

Tony Quinn crossed the line in eighth while Canto recovered from a late spin to finish ninth as Walls rounded out the top 10.

Having enjoyed a brief spell in the lead, Scott Taylor brought the Mercedes, he shared with Baird, to the flag in 11th position.

The Australian GT Championship returns to action on Sunday for another 60 minute race scheduled to begin at 1125 local time.

Result: Australian GT Championship Race 1, Perth