Edoardo Mortara stormed to victory in the City of Dreams Macau GT Cup after both Erebus entries struck trouble in a crash-strewn race.
Mortara inherited the win in the 12-lap race after Erebus charger Maro Engel had led with only a handful of laps remaining when a puncture forced him out of the race.
A master of the incredibly tight 6.1km street track, Mortara steered his Audi R8 LMS to victory ahead of Danny Watts (McLaren MP4-12C) with Alexandre Imperatori third in his Porsche 911 GT3.
The Swiss-born Italian Mortara sliced his way to the front in the closing stages after moving up from third.
After claiming pole with a record lap, Engel capitalised on his prime grid position to lead, holding the spot after two safety car periods.
But after the last restart Engel’s luck deserted him when the tyre went flat.
He was forced to seek safety down an escape road allowing Imperatori to take charge.
The second Erebus Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 driven by Dutch youngster Renger van der Zande was pushing for second place at one stage however was shuffled back to fourth late in the race.
Trying desperately to supply the Australian outfit with a podium, he tried to put a move on Imperatori however the Porsche made contact with van der Zande forcing the SLS to slide into the barriers.
It sealed a disappointing end for the Erebus assault which had promised so much.
However the team chief executive Ryan Maddison has vowed to return to avenge the disappointing results.
“That was a rough. Really unfortunate the way things have gone,” Maddison said.
“One thing’s for sure, for Erebus, it makes us more determined to come back and prove ourselves next year.”
Mortara is known as ‘Mr Macau’ being the defending two-times GT champion and the only driver to win two F3 titles (2009-2010) at the circuit.
