The 2025 GT World Challenge Australia Championship made a return to Victoria for the GT Festival at Sandown Raceway, serving up two action-packed races across a weekend defined by raw emotion, unpredictable conditions, and ever-changing weather.
Qualifying:
Arise Racing GT dominated Saturday morning’s qualifying sessions, emerging as the benchmark outfit across both sessions.
Jordan Love marked his return to the series with a commanding performance in Qualifying 1, putting the #77 Arise Ferrari 296 GT3 on pole with a best time of 1m08.216s, three tenths clear of Jayden Ojeda in the Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, who split the two Arise entries.
Championship leaders Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte slotted into third in the #26 Arise Racing GT Ferrari.
The session was briefly halted after Alex Peroni went off at Turn 4 and nudged the tyre barriers. Although the Team BRM Audi R8 LMS Evo II was able to limp back to the pits, the red flag disrupted several flying laps and left Peroni and teammate Mark Rosser on the back foot heading into Race 1.
In the AM Cup, Darren Currie delivered a standout lap to claim class pole for 111 Racing, while Paul Stokell took Trophy Cup honours for Team MPC, qualifying ninth outright.
Qualifying 2 ran cleaner, and Schutte underscored his championship credentials with the fastest time of the session.
He edged out Brad Schumacher in the #888 Audi R8 LMS Evo II by a mere tenth of a second, while Liam Talbot took third in the Volante Rosso Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 despite a spin in the closing minutes.
AM class leader Renee Gracie was denied a pole position for the first time this season as Grant Donaldson stepped up for 111 Racing and produced a lap two-tenths quicker than Gracie.
Trophy Cup was led by Matt Stoupas, lapping just under a second off Donaldson’s AM benchmark.
Race 1 (Round 7):
Saturday afternoon’s Race 1 proved to be a mix of attrition and brilliance, culminating in an emotional win for Evans and Schutte, their third of the season.
Starting from pole, Schutte was quickly swamped, shuffled back to third on the opening lap as Schumacher and Talbot muscled their way past. A safety car was triggered early after Rosser spun at Turn 9, echoing teammate Peroni’s incident at the same corner just hours earlier.
At the restart, Talbot immediately attacked Schumacher for the lead, while Schutte dropped further to fourth after a bold move from Steve Brooks in the #88 Wolfbrook Audi R8 LMS EVO II.
As the front-runners settled into rhythm, the compulsory pit window opened. Talbot handed over to Jamie Day, while Evans took over from Schutte and emerged in third position, behind George King in the Tigani Motorsport Mercedes and Day’s Aston Martin.
Evans wasted little time. A mistake from Day allowed the Kiwi through to the lead, and he never looked back.
Drawing from his experience around Sandown, Evans opened up a comfortable margin, while behind him, Ryan Wood, now in the #88 Audi after Brooks’ opening stint, fought his way into second ahead of Schumacher and Feeney, making it a triple Kiwi podium with Evans, Brooks and Wood.
The victory was an emotional one for Evans, who dedicated the result to the late Tim Miles, his fellow countryman and friend, who passed away just a few weeks ago.
In the AM Cup, Ben Schoots and Shane Woodman capitalised on a spin from Currie at Turn 9 to claim their first class win since the season opener.
Gracie finished second after briefly leading early in the race, while Theo and James Koundouris took third in the Tigani Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Stokell and Stoupas comfortably sealed the Trophy Cup win.
Watch the race on the GT World YouTube Channel HERE
Race 2 (Round 8):
Before the second race got underway on Sunday, the paddock came together in a powerful tribute to Tim Miles.
Fellow Kiwi Brendon Leitch, Miles’ teammate, took the #7 Audi for one final lap around Sandown as part of a “minute of noise” honouring his legacy. Leitch earlier in the week confirmed his withdrawal from the remainder of the season, saying it wouldn’t feel right to continue racing without Miles. It was a truly fitting tribute for a Kiwi racing legend.
With rain falling and a slick track awaiting, the grid cleared and Race 2 began in treacherous conditions. Love got the jump off the line but lost the rear at Turn 4 and spun, handing the lead to Ojeda with Lee Holdsworth, Broc Feeney, and Evans all filing through.
Feeney slipped wide at the final corner of Lap 1, opening the door for Evans to move into third. Meanwhile, Peroni put in an electric opening lap, jumping from P14 to P8.
But Turn 4 once again proved decisive, as Theo Koundouris crashed heavily into the barrier at the entry, the same spot where Love had spun. The resulting safety car was the first of the race.
Once green flag conditions resumed, Ojeda controlled the restart, while Evans and Feeney fought tooth and nail for the final podium spot. Behind them, Talbot muscled his way past Wood into fifth, as Love continued to recover from his earlier off.
Evans gradually reeled in Holdsworth and passed the Audi for second, then set his sights on Ojeda, who had stretched the gap to 4.7 seconds. Light rain began to fall again, adding to the challenge just as the pit window approached.
With 23 minutes remaining, most of the front-runners dove into pit lane. Lucchitti took over from Ojeda and retained the lead, while Rosser, taking over from Peroni, leapfrogged both Schumacher (in for Feeney) and Talbot (in for Day) to slot into second. Marc Cini emerged fifth after taking over from Holdsworth.
The Arise Ferrari of Evans and Schutte served its 15-second success penalty, dropping to sixth. Brooks, now in the #88 Audi after Wood’s stint, sat behind him in seventh.
Talbot was quick to dispatch Rosser and move into second. With 13 minutes to go, he was only 1.5 seconds behind Lucchitti and closing rapidly.
Schumacher followed suit, moving up to third. Moments later, Talbot snatched the lead at Turn 1, and Schumacher followed through shortly after.
As the rain intensified, Schutte began his charge. Now in fourth, he closed in on Lucchitti and eventually made a decisive pass into Turn 1 on the penultimate lap to seal third place, locking in a double podium weekend for the Arise Racing #26 crew.
On the final lap, Schumacher and Talbot made contact while battling for the win, but Talbot managed to hold his line and steer the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 to victory, the marque’s first ever win in GT World Challenge Australia.
Schumacher and Feeney finished second, Evans and Schutte third. Lucchitti/Ojeda were fourth, ahead of Rosser/Peroni in fifth and Brooks/Wood in sixth. Love and Wyatt salvaged seventh after a recovery drive, while Stoupas and Stokell again took Trophy Cup honours in eighth overall.
In the AM Cup, Gracie stormed back from disappointment on Saturday to take a vital class win, edging out Currie/Donaldson, with Schoots/Woodman completing the podium in a rain-soaked, chaotic race that tested every driver to the limit.
Watch the race on the GT World YouTube Channel HERE
The Sandown weekend proved a defining chapter in the 2025 GT World Challenge Australia season. From Arise Racing’s dominant form and Evans’ emotionally charged victory, to Aston Martin’s breakthrough win and the moving tribute to Tim Miles, it was a round that reminded all involved why GT racing continues to capture hearts across the motorsport world.
GT World Challenge Australia takes a six-week break and returns on 5-7 September for Rounds 9 and 10 at The Bend in South Australia near Adelaid before the final double-header round at Hampton Downs in New Zealand on 31 October – 2 November.
Header Image: Race Project
