Ryan Wood and Steve Brooks have gotten off to a strong start for the 2026 GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS season, going quickest in the opening session of LIQUI MOLY GT Festival Phillip Island.
Behind the wheel of the Wolfbrook Motorsport Audi R8 LMS EVO II, the pair proved too fast for the rest of the field as the time of 1:26.154 set by Wood in the opening laps of the one-hour session went unbeaten.
Going second quickest for the session, almost four tenths slower, was the Move My Wheels by Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO of Jayden Ojeda and Paul Lucchitti, with Ojeda’s best time of 1:26.548 coming on lap eight.
Thomas Randle made a strong start in the Castrol Team BRM Audi R8 LMS EVO II he is sharing with Mark Rosier Rosser for the weekend, with his time of 1:26.669 just a tenth slower than the Mercedes-AMG of Ojeda and Lucchitti.
Rounding out the top five for the session were two of Ojeda and Lucchitti’s teammates, with the Geyer Valmont Racing by Tigani Motorsport entry of Brendon Leitch and Sergio Piero Pires a further eight tenths slower in fourth, and the Kollosche AMG by Tigani Motorsport pairing of Oscar Targett and Shane Smollen in fifth.
In the Trophy Cup, Luke Youlden and Nathan Halstead went fastest in the session, with the pair guiding the AED Consulting by Tigani Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3R to a solid time of 1:27.4258 – almost one second faster than the KFC Team MPC Audi R8 LMS EVO II of Paul Stokell and Matt Stoupas.
Third in the class were Alex Gardner and Lee Stibbs, who were behind the wheel of the Volante Rosso Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3, their time of 1:28.7019 a further three tenths off.
View the full session results.
Just one GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS session remains for the day, with Practice 2 to take place today at 1:50pm AEDT.
Wood and Brooks top the timesheets in Practice 1
