Phillip Island’s opening round of the 2024 Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS was a stunner.
And for those in attendance, or watching on the screens of Seven (Australia) or live around the world on YouTube (everywhere else), they witnessed close racing, the local debut of the Prancing Horse’s latest and one of the strongest Pro-Am and Am class battles on record.
With the dust of the opening round now settled, the media team at Fanatec GT Australia decided to reflect on a mega Island battle and its main talking points.
The Ferraris are fast
This is a predictable one. Ferrari’s latest and greatest 296 GT3 follows on from the success of the previous iterations perfectly. Ferrari has raced in various iterations of Australian sports car competition for nearly three decades, but its only in the last 10 years that it has seen great success, highlighted by two Bathurst 12 Hour victories and many race wins in either the 458 or 488. Although absent in recent seasons, the Arise Racing GT 396 GT3s made a splash at Phillip Island, scoring both poles added to by a race victory in its debut outing. It will be exciting to follow the development of the 296.
Audi still has what it takes
Arguably Audi’s R8 LMS GT3 Evo 2 is elderly compared to its opposition as it can trace its history back to 2009 with the original generation model. However, what Phillip Island proved was the Audi is still very much competitive against the latest from Ferrari and Mercedes-AMG at the top of the tree. Credit must also go to Melbourne Performance Centre as it continues to remain the benchmark in GT racing down under – an organisation that celebrates 20 years of racing in 2024. Audi has promised to continue its support of all customers for some time to come, so although the R8 has disappeared from showrooms, it still has plenty of life yet on the racetrack.
The Ams battle as fierce as the Pros
Sunday’s race proved the racing between the Ams can be just as good as the Pros. New Zealander Tim Miles and the boy from Bathurst Brad Schumacher put on one of the best displays of racing in local GT history at the Island. Although Schumacher’s attempt at a pass exiting Southern Loop led to a trip through the gravel trap, the battle was clean and world class. It also led to another Am battle as Schumacher recovered to third, only to encounter a determined Liam Talbot, who just fell short of the podium. It also demonstrates Australia has superb Am drivers.
Phillip Island is THE place to race a GT
How good is Phillip Island? GT3s are simply made for this circuit and it once again posed questions on why it is so seldom used on the national scene. The flowing, European-style layout provided awesome racing, and encouragingly, fans flocked to the venue. Not only this, but fan engagement courtesy of a grid walk prior to Race 2 and entry to the pit paddock ensured there were plenty of happy faces on Sunday afternoon. Full credit to the Shannons SpeedSeries and Phillip Island for putting on a real spectacle.
GT Racing in Australia is on the rise
The momentum of GT racing in Australia is back on the rise as fans and competitors left Phillip Island enthusiastic about the season to come. Fans were enamoured with the Audi, Mercedes-AMG and Ferrari battle, with hopefully more brands set to come play at various stages during the season. The amount of Pro-Am entries also heralds a new era of openness due to all being strong contenders, while Am Class is even more competitive as proven by two different winners collecting the laurels across the weekend. All in all, Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS is heading in the right direction.
The next round of Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS forms part of the Shannons SpeedSeries line-up at The Bend Motorsport Park on May 31-June 2.