Feeney/Schumacher champs as Evans/Schutte stripped of GT crown

Schutte and Evans were penalised after stewards found the #26 Ferrari 296 had accelerated too early on the final race restart

A stewards report read: “At the end of the safety car deployment Car 26 increased speed prior to the display of the green flag.”

Brad Schumacher and Broc Feeney crossed the line first, 1.113s ahead of Schutte and Evans.

Assuming Schumacher and Feeney were victorious, Schutte and Evans had to finish no lower than fourth.

With the field bunched up after the Safety Car intervention, the five-second penalty dropped them to seventh.

After finishing Race 1 on Saturday, the Pro drivers of Pro-Am combinations lined up to start Race 2.

Feeney’s goal was simple: build as big a gap at the start as possible before the mandatory pit stop cycle, during which the #888 Melbourne Performance Centre Audi R8 would have to sit for a further 15 seconds due to winning Race 1.

Unhelpful to Feeney’s case was a lap one Safety Car due to contact between Damon Leitch in the #181 OnlyFans-backed Melbourne Performance Centre Audi and George King in the #55 Geyer Valmont Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG at turn two, which took both cars out of contention.

Leitch tried to avoid contact with the other #66 Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG driven by Jayden Ojeda in the heavy braking zone on cold tyres, but when the car slid sideways under brakes it speared into the right rear of King.

Feeney led for the remainder of the stint before pitting as late as possible, where Schumacher emerged in fourth position after taking over the Audi. Schutte, meanwhile, took over from Evans and assumed the lead. However, he was quickly reeled in by a hard-charging Schumacher.

Just as Schumacher got to the back of Schutte, a late Safety Car was drawn for the Sam Fillmore/Jonny Reid Audi after it suffered steering damage from contact with the Stephen Wyatt/Jordan Love Arise Racing Ferrari.

That set up a blockbuster finish. With just a few minutes remaining, the race restarted. It was at that point Schutte’s rule breach occurred, hitting the throttle well before the green flag was thrown.

Schumacher quickly worked his way past the Ferrari before running wide at turn five, allowing Schutte back into play. Schumacher ultimately held sway and crossed the line first, he and Feeney becoming the first drivers to sweep a GT World Challenge weekend outright since Evans and Schutte at Sydney Motorsport Park in May.

Schutte crossed the line second but was demoted to seventh. On correct order, second went to Ryan Wood and Steve Brooks for a Melbourne Performance Centre one-two. Ojeda and Paul Lucchitti completed the podium in third.

Liam Talbot put in a late charge to get fourth place for he and Josh Hunt in the #1 Volante Rosso Aston Martin Vantage while fifth was New Zealand’s Jonny Reid and series returnee Shane Smollen in the #96 Mercedes-AMG.

Darren Currie and Grant Donaldson took the Am class race win, coming home in 10th outright ahead of Ben Schoots and Shane Woodman.