In their Ferrari 296 GT3s, they finished just 0.29s apart at the end of 34 laps and dominated the race after Mostert led Evans through to their pitstops. The order changed due to addition time for Talbot who resumed third and ultimately finished just behind Schutte.
Third across the line were Brendon Leitch and Tim Miles before their Audi R8 LMS Evo 11 was relegated to position 12 for a pitlane infringement.
They were at the head of a frantic battle that carried to the finish. Brenton and Stephen Grove (Mercedes-AMG) held on for what would become third, ahead of Alex Peroni/Mark Rosser and Renee Gracie/Paul Stokell in Audis, and Declan Fraser/Peter Hackett (Mercedes-AMG).
Just behind them at the flag were the AM winners, Michael Sheargold and Garth Walden (Mercedes-AMG). Then followed Pro-AM’s Will Brown/Brad Schumacher (Audi) and the AM classes’ Theo and James Koundouris (Mercedes-AMG) and Ash Samadi (Audi).
Eleventh were David Brabham and Christos Batzios (Mercedes) while 13th went to Marc Cini (Audi) from Marcel Zalloua/Sergio Pires (Audi) and Scotty Taylor/Paul Morris (Porsche 911 GT3-R).
After the start and at the end of Lap 1, it was a Ferrari one-two as Evans was able to get by Ojeda who started second and chase pole sitter Mostert. From fourth Brown went wide at Turn 4 and that allowed Leitch and Grove to get by.
Take the short survey.
For the second race in a row, the Triple Eight Mercedes (this time with Fraser at the helm) was facing the wrong way at Turn 2 on the first lap.
The early action centred around Leitch and his bid to pass Jayden Ojeda (Mercedes-AMG). The Kiwi managed it on Lap 3 and there was some contact between the two. Ojeda appeared to be heading to the pits shortly after when Alex Gardner clipped him as he made the pass, and the Aston Martin Vantage spun off in the Turn 11 gravel trap.
That necessitated the first Safety Car. The second came after the AMs and Trophy class had made their stops. The Ben Schoots/Shane Woodman (Mercedes-AMG) was spun off at MG corner after contact from the Valentino Astuti/Darren Currie Aston Martin.
The incident triggered the Pro-AMs to undergo their stops. Schutte was the leader when green flags came out ahead of Miles with Talbot third due to an extra 15s in the pits for winning Race 1.
Talbot was able to get by Miles and latched onto the back of his teammate while it was really going on for third with Miles, Grove, Rosser, Schumacher, Stokell and Hackett who survived a big moment at Turn 3. Then Schumacher had a spin in the middle of the pack at Turn 1 but without damage.
Discussion about this post