The trio of Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 cars have topped the timesheets in GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS’ opening practice session of LIQUI MOLY GT Festival at The Bend.
Leading the charge for the team were Oscar Targett and Shane Smollen behind the wheel of their Kollosche AMG by Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG, with the former’s eighth-lap time of 1:45.763 remaining unbeaten for the series.
Finishing the session with the second fastest time was the Move My Wheels by Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Jayden Ojeda and Paul Luchitti with the pair just half a tenth off their teammates - highlighting the pure pace of the Mercedes-AMG.
Rounding out the top three was the Geyer Valmont Racing by Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG of Brendon Leitch and Sergio Pires, whose time of 1:46.357 saw their best time over half a second slower than the #66 Mercedes-AMG of Luchitti and Ojeda.
Audi rounded out the top five as Mark Rosser and Thomas Randall in the Castrol Team BRM Audi R8 LMS EVO II ended up fourth with their best time of 1:46.358 just half a tenth behind Leitch and Pires.
They were closely followed by the Team BRM / Wolfbrook Motorsport Audi R8 LMS EVO II of Steve Brooks and Ryan Wood – the second Team BRM Audi ended up fifth for the session with a time of 1:46.690.
In the Trophy Cup it was Tigani Motorsport who topped the class with AED Consulting by Tigani Motorsport’s Luke Youlden and Nathan Halstead guiding their Porsche 911 GT3 R to seventh overall on the timesheets.
The pair’s time of 1:47.079 saw them produce a lap time more than one second faster than the next best crew of Paul Stokell and Matthew Stoupas in the KFC / Team MPC Audi R8 LMS EVO II, while Volante Rosso Motorsport’s Alex Gardner and Ben Porter were third fastest in the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3, a further second off the Audi
View the full times for Practice 1 here.
The next session for GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS takes place at 1pm ACST.