The #27 Arise Racing Ferrari 296 started from pole position but had to rebound from a tough start for Evans’ co-driver Schutte.

Evans came out second after the pit stop sequence behind the #1 Volante Rosso Aston Martin of Jamie Day and Liam Talbot and passed him shortly after.

The final stanza was a barnburning battle between Evans, Ryan Wood, and Broc Feene — and ultimately Evans prevailed.

Evans fought back tears in an emotional post-race interview, noting the passing of his long-time supporter Tim Miles.

“That one means a lot, obviously with what’s gone on the last couple of weeks,” Evans’ voice quivered.

“Credit to the guys, it’s a pretty special feeling. It wasn’t an easy race. Elliott did a flawless job in qualifying and unfortunately the start of the race didn’t go the way we wanted to.

“I had good car speed and was able to make some moves. Really, really happy with that one

“I felt good out of the box and managed to get to the lead and then felt like we just ran out of tyres a little bit,” said Evans of the closing battle.

“Really dug deep, thought of Tim, and just happy to fend off and win the race.”

Schutte led the field to the green flag with Brad Schumacher alongside him

It was a strange start to the race. Schumacher looked like he might lose second position to Talbot into Turn 1 before the #888 Audi R8 brakes late and ran through the run-off.

Schumacher returned to the track alongside Schutte, which compromised the #26 Ferrari 296 and opened the door to Talbot in the #1 Aston Martin Vantage, who banged doors between Turn 3 and Turn 4.

Schumacher was noted for exceeding track limits shortly thereafter and later given a five-second penalty.

Schutte haemorrhaged positions hand over fist, dropping another spot to the Steve Brooks/Ryan Wood Audi.

Mark Rosser was a hard charger early to fifth but had his hard work undone when he spun at Dandenong Road. With the #27 Audi beached, that brought out the Safety Car

There was drama on the restart when Talbot rear-ended Schumacher at the final turn and took a chunk of carbon fibre out of the left rear corner of the Audi. Talbot’s Aston Martin was a bit worse for wear too, caving in the right front corner.

The top five were covered by just a few seconds just shy of 30 minutes into the contest. Schumacher was given a reprieve when Talbot got a bad exit and came under fire from Brookes.

Pit stops for the Pro-Am drivers began in earnest on the stroke of 30 minutes. Jamie Day took the reins from Talbot and took the lead of the race. George King was the surprise packet in second in the #55 Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG, but he was quickly overtaken by Jaxon Evans in the #26 Ferrari with Schutte.

After his penalty, the Broc Feeney/Brad Schumacher Audi was fifth behind the sister Melbourne Performance Centre car of Ryan Wood and Steve Brooks.

At the head of the field, Day began to lose time and Evans soon had the Aston Martin his his crosshairs.

With less than 20 minutes to go, Evans tried to pass around the outside at Turn 1 but got hung out to dry in the run-off. A lap later, Evans got the pass done after Day made a mistake at Dandenong Road and missed the apex.

Wood was quick to capitalise on Day’s lacklustre pace and passed him for second into Turn 1 the following lap and it wasn’t long before Feeney dropped Day to fourth at Turn 1 the next lap.

Day’s race went from bad to worse when he suffered a tank slapper out of Turn 1 and looped around on the exit kerb.

The final stanza was a ding-dong battle between Evans, Wood, and Feeney.

Wood looked like he might put a pass on Evans, and lunged on the last lap at Turn 4, but that compromised the second-placed Audi and left Wood vulnerable to his teammate Feeney.

Ultimately, Evans was able to hold on for the win by a car length over Wood.

The second GT World Challenge Australia race at Sandown starts on Sunday at 2:05pm AEST.