Rio Nugara has won both CAMS Australian GT Trophy Series races at Phillip Island following a thrilling finale to Race 2.
A stunning performance in the opening race of the day saw the EAT Furniture Audi R8 LMS Ultra race home more than seven seconds clear of Nick Kelly in the Industrie Audi R8 LMS Ultra, with the podium completed by stablemate Matt Stoupas in the KFC Audi.
Nugara then backed up his Race 1 performance with a stunning drive under immense pressure, resisting the relentless onslaught from a charging Kelly in the final half of the race to claim a sensational win.
The race was dominated by a thrilling three-way dice for the lead between Nugara, Kelly and John Morriss (Motorsport Leasing / RaceRamps) which built to a climax in the final laps.
Nugara had emerged from the pits with a comfortable advantage at the head of the race, managing his pace as Kelly and Morris closed in on the leader.
With ten minutes remaining the three ran nose to tail, with Nugara holding out against incredible pressure – setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 30.
In the final lap Nugara edged clear to win by 1.7seconds over Kelly, who was a slender 0.3seconds ahead of Morriss at the flag.
Morriss had earlier lined up from pole in the opening race, leading the race prior to his stop.
The Porsche driver rejoined fourth before becoming embroiled with a four-way scrap over second with Kelly, Stoupas, and Dave Stevens (Superfluid Ferrari 458 GT3).
Kelly gained the upper hand by the end of the 25-lap race, taking second by 0.7s over Stoupas with Stevens and Morriss split by 0.1s after dropping a couple of seconds back late in proceedings.
American racer Brett Strom (RHC Jorgensen-Strom by MARC Cars) held the advantage in the MARC Cars class over Adam Hargraves (LOCAL Search by MARC Cars) to take out the round, with Daren Jorgensen seeing the flag in the RHC Jorgensen-Strom by MARC Cars BMW M4 GT4 on both occasions.
With two wins from as many starts Nugara took out the round, closing Kelly’s title advantage by 19 points as he moved into second place.
The next round of the Australian GT Trophy Series rejoins the Australian GT Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park on August 3-4.
Result: CAMS Australian GT Trophy Series, Phillip Island, Race 1
Pos Car Competitor/Team Driver Vehicle Laps Race Time
1 188 E.A.T. Furniture Rio Nugara Audi R8 LMS Ultra 25 0:40:22.758
2 99 Industrie Nick Kelly Audi R8 LMS Ultra 25 0:40:29.579
3 23 Kentucky Fried Chicken Matthew Stoupas Audi R8 LMS Ultra 25 0:40:30.255
4 147 Superfluid Dave Stevens Ferrari 458 GT3 25 0:40:34.546
5 34 Motorsport Leasing / RaceRamps John Morriss Porsche 911 GT3 R 25 0:40:34.687
6 991 Perfect Auto Body Vincent Muriti Audi R8 LMS Ultra 25 0:41:00.002
7 71 Dale Paterson Motorsports Dale Paterson Chevrolet Camaro 25 0:41:00.847
8 33 RHC Jorgensen-Strom by MARC Cars Brett Strom MARC Mazda V8 25 0:41:22.838
9 20 LOCAL Search by MARC Cars Adam Hargraves MARC Mazda V8 24 0:40:41.059
10 13 RHC Jorgensen – Strom by MARC Cars Daren Jorgensen BMW M4 GT4 23 0:40:23.455
12 Seidler Group Chris Seidler Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car 3 0:11:31.874
Result: CAMS Australian GT Trophy Series, Phillip Island, Race 2
Pos Car Competitor/Team Driver Vehicle Laps Race Time
1 188 E.A.T. Furniture Rio Nugara Audi R8 LMS Ultra 32 51:00.522
2 99 Industrie Nick Kelly Audi R8 LMS Ultra 32 51:02.263
3 34 Motorsport Leasing / RaceRamps John Morriss Porsche 911 GT3 R 32 51:02.553
4 23 Kentucky Fried Chicken Matthew Stoupas Audi R8 LMS Ultra 32 51:19.873
5 147 Superfluid Dave Stevens Ferrari 458 GT3 32 51:33.128
6 991 Perfect Auto Body Vincent Muriti Audi R8 LMS Ultra 32 51:56.843
7 71 Dale Paterson Motorsports Dale Paterson Chevrolet Camaro 32 52:00.401
8 33 RHC Jorgensen-Strom by MARC Cars Brett Strom MARC Mazda V8 32 52:07.697
9 20 LOCAL Search by MARC Cars Adam Hargraves MARC Mazda V8 31 52:01.522
10 13 RHC Jorgensen – Strom by MARC Cars Daren Jorgensen BMW M4 GT4 30 52:06.546
12 Seidler Group Chris Seidler Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car 22 51:09.325
Talbot & Martin secure pole position for Phillip Island 101
Liam Talbot and John Martin will start their Hot Wheels Car Care Products Porsche 911 GT3 R from pole position following today’s two-part CAMS Australian GT Championship qualifying for the Phillip Island 101.
Martin recorded the second fastest time in Qualifying 1, before Talbot backed up the 1m 27.170s effort with his own 1m 28.718s lap, giving the pair an aggregate qualifying time of 1m 27.944s.
It proved 0.2s faster than the BMW Team SRM duo of Steve Richards and Michael Almond, after a stunning lap from Almond saw the M6 GT3 top Qualifying 2 with a 1m 28.505s.
Row two is an all-Audi affair, with Geoff Emery and Garth Tander third in the Valvoline entry alongside Tony Bates and Daniel Gaunt in the KFC/Ctech Laser/Moveitnet/B&B Audi R8 LMS.
With the event doubling as Round 2 of the CAMS Australian Endurance Championship, points leaders Max Twigg and Tony D’Alberto will start seventh in the WM Waste Management entry.
A stunning lap from Dylan O’Keeffe saw the Ah Apartments entry fastest in Qualifying 1, 0.02s up on Martin, the Audi R8 LMS O’Keeffe is sharing with Ash Samadi on the fourth row alongside the Twigg/D’Alberto Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Heading the GT4 class is the JMG/Bilstein Aston Martin Vantage GT4 of Jeremy Gray and Andrew Miedecke, their combined 1m 38.432s lap edging the all-American pairing of Daren Jorgensen and Brett Strom in the RHC Jorgensen-Strom by MARC Cars BMW M4 GT4.
Missing the session was the McElrea Racing run YNA Autosport entry of Shane van Gisbergen and Duvashen Padayachee.
The McLaren 650S GT3 suffered a surprise oil drive failure in what was a new engine, though the team has worked to repair the car which is set to take the race start.
The Phillip Island 101, Round 4 of the CAMS Australian GT Championship, is scheduled to begin at 1320 tomorrow afternoon (June 3).
The race will be streamed live and uninterrupted online at www.australiangt.com.au/live with additional behind the scenes content throughout the day across Australian GT’s social media platforms.
Result: CAMS Australian GT Championship, Round 4, Qualifying*
Pos Competitor/Team Driver Vehicle Time
1 Walkinshaw GT3 Liam Talbot/John Martin Porsche 911 GT3 R 1:27.944
2 BMW Team SRM Steve Richards/Michael Almond BMW M6 GT3 1:28.132
3 Valvoline Geoff Emery/Garth Tander Audi R8 LMS 1:28.189
4 KFC/Ctech Laser/Moveitnet/B&B Tony Bates/Daniel Gaunt Audi R8 LMS 1:28.287
5 Eggleston Motorsport Peter Hackett/Jake Fouracre Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:28.454
6 Total Oil/Opti-Coat/Boost Mobile Fraser Ross/Jaxon Evans McLaren 650S GT3 1:28.648
7 WM Waste Management Max Twigg/Tony D’Alberto Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:28.747
8 Ah Apartments Ash Samadi/Dylan O’Keeffe Audi R8 LMS 1:29.061
9 The Bend Motor Sport Park Yasser Shahin/Luke Youlden Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:29.171
10 Wall Racing Adrian Deitz/Cameron McConville Lamborghini Huracan GT3 1:29.324
11 International Motorsport Andrew Fawcet/Jonny Reid Audi R8 LMS 1:29.461
12 Scott Taylor Motorsport Scott Taylor/Craig Baird Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:29.473
13 Objective Racing Tony Walls/Warren Luff McLaren 650S GT3 1:30.118
14 Mariani Beef Jerky Tony Quinn/Grant Denyer McLaren 650S GT3 1:31.193
15 LOCAL Search by MARC Cars Adam Hargraves/Daniel Jilesen MARC Mazda V8 1:35.203
16 JMG/Bilstein Jeremy Gray/Andrew Miedecke Aston Martin Vantage GT4 1:38.432
17 RHC Jorgensen – Strom by MARC Cars Daren Jorgensen/Brett Strom BMW M4 GT4 1:38.813
18 Forum Group/M Motorsport Vince Tesoriero/Glen Wood KTM X-Bow GT4 1:39.066
19 Hogs Breath Café/Griffith Corporation Mark Griffith/Rio Nugara Ginetta G55 GT4 1:40.234
20 Vantage Freight/M Motorsport David Crampton/Trent Harrison KTM X-Bow GT4 1:40.764
21 YNA Autosport Duvashen Padayachee/Shane van Gisbergen McLaren 650S GT3 *Results are provisional
Source. Australin GT Championship
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