Liam Talbot has won a thrilling opening CAMS Australian GT Championship race at Sydney Motorsport Park after an inch-perfect performance.
Talbot withstood enormous pressure following his pit stop, the Porsche driver holding his nerve to win from Peter Hackett (Eggleston Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3).
The Walkinshaw GT3 driver was thrilled with the result for what was a brand-new chassis heading into the weekend.
“Stoked to get the victory, Walkinshaw have done a great job to turn the car around – it had massive damage at Phillip Island, new chassis flown out from Germany, so stoked to debut the new chassis with a race win,” Talbot enthused.
“Any one of us could have had the spin, the track conditions were pretty wild with the wind.
“We just played to our strengths, you don’t want to overstep the mark too, but really happy with the result.”
A late spin from Hackett saw the Mercedes driver drop off the back of Talbot, but still recorded valuable points with an important second place.
Hackett dominated qualifying, converting pole into the race lead at the start as he resisted early pressure from BMW Team SRM ace Steven Richards.
The intensity of the lead battle was matched by that for third between Fraser Ross (McLaren 650S GT3), Cameron McConville (Wall Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3), and Talbot.
The order was shuffled when Hackett and Talbot pitted on the same lap, reversing their positions as they dropped a lap to McConville, who handed the car to Adrian Deitz with a late stop.
The strategy call saw Deitz emerge third, with Talbot in the lead from a charging Hackett, who launched a vigorous attacked, passing the race leader at Turn 2 only to run wide and allow Talbot back.
Third went to Ross ahead of Geoff Emery (Audi R8 LMS GT3), with a strong performance from Yasser Shahin netting The Bend Motorsport Park Mercedes-AMG GT3 driver fifth.
A sensational drive from debutante Ryan How saw the teenager claim Trophy Series honours in his national competition debut.
How and the charging Ricky Capo found themselves locked in a thrilling battle in the closing laps, the BMW driver taking sixth after a stunning drive through the field after taking the car over from Richards.
Despite losing the position, How was still the leading Trophy Class contender across the line, giving him the class victory.
“Obviously everyone wants to come first, but I didn’t expect or predict that – I was happy just to finish,” said a jubilant How.
“It’s amazing to finish first, in our first Australian GT start and the first time in the Audi at Sydney Motorsport Park.”
David Crampton and Trent Harrison (KTM X-Bow GT4) enjoyed a strong race to take out the GT4 win, heading Jeremy Gray (Aston Martin Vantage GT3) to close the gap in the championship hunt.
Points leader Tony Bates managed to bring the Audi R8 LMS GT3 home in tenth, and now sits tied on 752 points with Ross at the top of the championship standings.
An incredible qualifying performance from George Miedecke saw the Miedecke Motorsport/Magnaswitch Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3 set the sixth fastest time, a feat made all the more remarkable given an electrical problem saw the car running on just 11-cylinders.
Unfortunately for the father and son pairing it was unable to be resolved in time for the race, with the duo forced to sit out the 40-minute encounter.
The Australian GT action continues with two races on Saturday, Race 2 starting at 12:25pm and Race 3 at 3:25pm.
Result: Australian GT Championship, Sydney Motorsport Park, Race 1
Pos Competitoream Driver Vehicle Laps Race Time Class
1 Walkinshaw GT3 Liam Talbot Porsche 911 GT3 R 25 42:33.835 CH
2 Eggleston Motorsport Peter Hackett Mercedes-AMG GT3 25 42:46.560 CH
3 Total Oil / Opti-Coat / Logitech Fraser Ross McLaren 650S GT3 25 42:55.804 CH
4 Valvoline Geoff Emery Audi R8 LMS GT3 25 42:56.535 CH
5 The Bend Motor Sport Park Yasser Shahin Mercedes-AMG GT3 25 43:00.032 CH
6 BMW Team SRM Steve Richardsicky Capo BMW M6 GT3 25 43:15.932 CH
7 BTE Bulk Transport Equipment / Ren Racing Ryan How Audi R8 Ultra GT3 25 43:18.145 TR
8 Industrie Nick Kelly Audi R8 Ultra GT3 25 43:20.154 TR
9 Superfluid Dave Stevens Ferrari 458 GT3 25 43:25.727 TR
10 KFC/Ctech Laser/Moveitnet/B&B Tony Bates Audi R8 LMS GT3 25 43:26.089 CH
11 Wall Racing Adrian Deitz/Cameron McConville Lamborghini Huracan GT3 25 43:32.692 CH
12 Kentucky Fried Chicken Matthew Stoupas Audi R8 Ultra GT3 25 43:35.934 TR
13 Hobson Motorsport / Hi-Tech Oils Brett Hobson Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 25 43:39.005 CH
14 Hogs Breath Café / Griffith Corporation Mark Griffith Mercedes-AMG GT3 25 43:41.786 CH
15 E.A.T. Furniture Rio Nugara Audi R8 Ultra GT3 25 44:04.378 TR
16 Perfect Auto Body Vince Muriti Audi R8 Ultra GT3 25 44:08.898 TR
17 M Motorpsort Justin McMillanean Koutsoumidis Lamborghini R-EX GT3 24 44:08.268 CH
18 Vantage Freight / M Motorsport David Cramptonrent Harrison KTM X-Bow GT4 23 43:02.863 GT4
19 Haemokinesis / Trofeo Estate / FreeM Jim Manolios Lamborghini Huracan GT3 23 43:22.921 CH
20 Anarik Racing John Nikolovskiamie Arratoon Ferrari 458 Challenge 23 43:35.474 TR
21 JMG / Bilstein Jeremy Gray Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT4 23 44:01.464 GT4
22 Scott Taylor Motorsport Scott Taylor Mercedes-AMG GT3 22 42:49.795 CH
DNF Local Legends Beef Jerky Tony Quinn Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3 8 16:39.069 CH
DNS Miedecke Motorsport / Magswitch Andrew Miedecke/George Miedecke Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3
Source. Australian GT Championship
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