The biggest setback faced the T2 Racing/Localsearch IRC GT of Cedric Sbirrazzuoli, Dan Jilesen and Adam Hargraves. They missed qualifying due to a big accident in practice and faced a major rebuild.
Geoff Taunton offered a same spec GT SS run by MARC Cars Australia in the Combined Sedans support category, to use for everything from the rear firewall back. T2 Racing couldn’t take the car, raced by Steve Lacey, until its duties were done, but then turned their wreck into a class winner.
“Adam, Geoff and I have been great friends for a long time,” Jilesen said.
The race was did not go without more drama. The class was given additional weight and a tighter restrictor after practice. The car lost an oil belt and it survived a spin in the Cutting.
The IRC/TekworkX Motorsport IRC GT, shared by Daniel Stutterd, Paul Tracy, Geoff Emery and Max Twigg, finished second, 12 laps in arrears. It was in contention until a spin in the Cutting on a wet track, broke the front clip and took time to replace.
The Supaglass Racing IRC GT in the hands of Nick Percat, Cameron Hill and John Holinger came home third despite two long stops to make repairs. The first was after it was turned around after Skyline by an Audi, and the second when the steering failed, and it went into the tyres at Griffin Bend.
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The French Vortex in the hands of Lionel Amrouche, Julien Boillot and Philippe Bonnel was running at the end. It had contact with a wall on the out lap which damaged the rear wing. It was off in McPhillamy Park and caused the first Safety Car, had two other crashes and a further spin, and was stuck on the kerbs at Turn 2 later.
Darren Currie, Rylan Gray and Axle Donaldson were early class leaders in the MRA Motorsport/111 Racing MARC II until contact with a Mercedes at Forest Elbow broke the steering. Engine dramas would put it out while the Wheels FX Racing MARC II of Tim Slade, Cameron McLeod, Haddrian Morrall and Keith Kassulke ended with a crash at Griffin Bend.
In GT4 Mark Griffith, Adam Christodouloui and Daniel Bilski pulled off a win after they were two laps down. They had a 2min pitstop penalty and what was likely a failing wheel bearing, but a stint on dry tyres in the wet was the saviour and helped get them the win.
The Method Motorsport McLaren Arturas had the pace to be out in front early. However the leading Chaz Mostert, Marcos Flack and Jesse Bryan entry led until hit smacked a wall when the rain came and was repaired to finish third behind the team car.
The Tom Hayman, Tom McLennan and Elliot Shutte entry lost out with some strategy calls and finished a lap behind. The Ginetta Australia G56 of Paul Buccini, Aaron, Zerefos, Colin White and Owen Hizzey pitted after just a handful of laps with broken driveshaft. It was tagged by a BMW in the Cutting and later had a meeting with the wall after the Dipper.
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