This weekend, eleven New Zealanders will compete at Phillip Island for the SpeedSeries season opener, with seven entered in GT World Challenge Australia and four in Porsche Sprint Challenge. The Kiwi contingent demonstrated strong pace in Friday’s practice sessions.
In GT World Challenge Australia, Brendon Leitch and Tim Miles led the way for the New Zealanders in Free Practice One, setting a time of 1:26.2507 in their Audi R8 to be just over four tenths behind the leading Audi of Alex Peroni and Mark Rossa. Brad Schumacher and Broc Feeney completed an Audi 1-2-3.
Jaxon Evans and Elliot Schutte followed in the Arise Racing GT Ferrari, just a tenth off the top three, while Ryan Wood, making his series debut, finished a respectable sixth in the Team MPC Audi. Ant Pedersen rounded out the Kiwi contingent in ninth place in the Mercedes GT3, around a second and a half behind the leaders.
Pre-Qualifying saw Peroni and Rossa’s Audi again leading the way with a 1:25.4263. Leitch and Miles secured another top-four finish, shaving two tenths off their P1 time with a 1:26.0639. Evans and Schutte finished in the top six again, though now a second off the pace in the Ferrari 296.
The all-Kiwi pairings of Wood and Steve Brooks, and Ant and Paul Pedersen, finished the day in tenth and eleventh respectively.
GT World Challenge Australia returns to the track today for two Qualifying sessions just after midday, followed by the season-opening One-Hour race this afternoon, which is set to kick off at 5:50pm NZT.
Along with GT World Challenge Australia, our Kiwis would also show strong pace in Porsche Sprint Challenge Australia Practice.
In Practice One, 2024/25 GT New Zealand GT4 Champion William Exton led the Kiwi quartet, setting a 1:31.4227 to finish seventh, six tenths off the pace. Tom Bewley and Hunter Robb followed closely in eighth and ninth respectively, while Jackson Rooney finished the session in 18th, three seconds off the pace.
Exton and Bewley showed significant improvement in Practice Two, shaving around six tenths of a second from their P1 times to finish a strong third and fourth respectively. Robb finished the session in 13th, ahead of Rooney, who made steady progress finishing in 16th.
Qualifying for the opening race of the Porsche Sprint Challenge season is set to kick off just after midday, followed by Race One at 3:50pm NZT.
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