New Zealand duo Brendon Leitch and Tim Miles have combined for third aboard the Dayle ITM Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo 2 in a dramatic GT World Challenge Australia opener at Queensland Raceway.
Leitch was the first driver to cross the line, but two five-second penalties, one for an unsafe release and the other for an overlap at the restart cost the team at the line.
Leitch took the lead shortly after a late Safety Car restart and was tasked with building a gap of over 10 seconds to hold the position at the flag. He broke the lap record twice as he did so but was only 6.5 seconds ahead at the race’s end.
They were relegated to third, behind promoted winner Alex Peroni and Mark Rosser (Audi R8 LMS Evo II) and runners-up Jayden Ojeda and Paul Lucchitti (Mercedes-AMG GT3).
Ojeda bettered Leitch’s new lap record as he hunted down Peroni over the final laps, but he ran out of time and fell just four-tenths short of challenging for honours.
Kiwi Supercars driver Jaxon Evans, partnering with Elliott Schutte in Arise Racing’s #8 Ferrari 296 GT3, finished fourth.
The race wasn’t even a corner old before the first incident involving Stephen Grove, Theo Koundouris, Marc Cini and Shane Woodman. Damage to Cini’s Audi R8 ended his race while the others continued.
Paul Stokell (Audi R8 led early proceedings and inched clear of Brad Schumacher (Audi R8) over the opening laps, extending his advantage to over four seconds in the opening 13 minutes.
Those gains were evaporated in the 17th minute when Ash Samadi spun at the end of the back straight, burying his Audi R8 in the gravel and bringing a Safety Car.
Schumacher stopped during the intervention to replace a left-rear puncture, elevating Peter Hackett (Mercedes-AMG GT3) to second and Liam Talbot (Ferrari 296 GT3) to third. The latter had charged forward from the rear of the grid.
Thirty-five minutes remained at the restart, but the Safety Car was again back in action shortly after when Darren Currie (Aston Martin Vantage) spun at the final corner and required assistance out of the gravel.
The pit window opened during the caution, first for AM drivers and then for Pro AMs. Leitch took over from Miles but copped a five-second penalty for an unsafe release as he emerged amongst the lead group.
A 21-minute shootout to the flag on resumption was again quickly interrupted, with a multi-car incident causing another Safety Car period.
Declan Fraser (Mercedes-AMG GT3) turned Renee Gracie, putting her in Brenton Grove’s path, who had nowhere to go. Chaz Mostert, partnering with Talbot in the #1 Ferrari, and Will Brown, joining Schumacher in the #87 Audi, took to the gravel, avoiding the incident, both sustaining damage.
Brown retired from the race with steering damage, while Mostert stopped for quick repairs and returned to the rear of the field.
Leitch took the final restart, with 10 minutes remaining, in third but quickly accounted for Paul Morris (Porsche 911 GT3-R) and then leader Ben Schoots to hit the front, albeit with 10 seconds of penalties looming, the latter coming from an infringement on the penultimate restart.
The Kiwi quickly looked to build a gap to cover the margin but ran out of time, handing the win to Peroni and Rosser. Peroni had followed Leitch through with moves on Morris and Schoots.
Evans and Schutte enjoyed a drama-free race amongst the chaos for fourth, while Schoots held on for fifth to top the AM class.
Mostert recovered from his off-track venture to bring the #1 Ferrari home in tenth place out of the 12 finishers. Five DNFs were recorded.
The GT World Challenge Australia returns for Race 2 at Queensland Raceway at 1.55 pm NZST on Sunday, which can be streamed live on Speedseries.tv
Leitch will start the race seventh, while Evans will start fifth. Ojeda will start from the pole alongside Brown, with Fraser and Mostert on the row behind.
Header Image: Insyde Media (Rhys Vandersyde) (Supplied)
