It was a thrilling and tense conclusion to the weekend. In wet conditions, Talbot fended off Brad Schumacher in the #888 Melbourne Performance Centre Audi R8 he shared with Supercars star Broc Feeney.
Schumacher made a lunge for the lead into Turn 4 on the 38th and last lap, only for Talbot to squeeze him and retain the lead.
Schumacher and Talbot made light contact. There was a brief investigation by stewards and no action was taken.
It marked the first race win for Volante Rosso in GT World Challenge and the third marque Talbot won with after Audi and Ferrari.
“The car felt great. Jamie did a good job at the start,” said Talbot.
“The car was lit. It was so much fun in the rain and I was hoping for rain, so it’s nice to have a wet race.
Secure your spot today.
“I was a little bit cautious through there. I didn’t know it was the last lap,” he said of the move.
“He was being ambitious yesterday and today was no different.”
Third place outright and in Pro-Am went to the Arise Racing Ferrari 296 driven by Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte. Meanwhile, Am honours were taken by Renee Gracie (Melbourne Performance Centre) over Darrn Currie/Axle Donaldson (111 Racing) and Ben Schoots/Shane Woodman (Black Wolf Motorsport) in Mercedes-AMG pair.
The race was preceded by an emotional tribute to the late Tim Miles that also featured fellow New Zealander and co-driver Brendon Leitch driving their Audi on a lone noisy lap of Sandown.
Then the start was delayed due to the wet conditions and the need to change tyres from slicks to wets on the grid.
Love was able to fend off Jayden Ojeda (Tigani Motorsport) from the start but spun out of Turn 3. He and Arise Racing teammate Steve Wyatt wound up seventh.
Ojeda led from Lee Holdsworth, Broc Feeney, Jaxon Evans, Ryan Wood, Day and Alex Peroni.
The Safety Car was deployed as they completed the second lap after Theo Koundouris spun out of Turn 3 and went head-first with his #47 Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG into the inside wall. He made it back to the pits but the car was too damaged to continue.
By the time the compulsory pitstop window opened, Ojeda was a clear leader as Holdsworth, Evans and Feeney diced for second ahead of Day, Wood and Peroni.
The latter was big winner out of the stops where co-driver Mark Rosser jumped to second. However, it was not for long as Day’s co-driver Talbot and Feeney’s teammate Schumacher soon passed Rosser and set sail to run down Lucchitti.
On Lap 27, Talbot took the lead and would finish one second ahead of Schumacher with Elliott Schutte a distant third with xo-driver Evans having passed Lucchitti on the final lap. Peroni/Rosser were next ahead of Brooks/Wood, and Love/Wyatt.
The sole Trophy class Audi, driven by Paul Stokell and Matt Stoupas, finished a lap down in ninth place ahead of George King/Sergio Pires (Mercedes) and the Am teams. Late contact with the Turn 3 fence left Marc Cini and Lee Holdsworth down in 13th.
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