The LIQUI MOLY GT Festival Phillip Island provided plenty of action for the more than 3000 spectators to brave the mixed conditions for Round 1 of the Shannons SpeedSeries.
Five categories raced at the scenic circuit on Saturday, with more to come to finish proceedings on Sunday
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Broc Feeney and Brad Schumacher converted pole to victory in their Kelso Electrical MPC Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II to make the perfect start to the title defence.
It was perfect performance as Schumacher navigated through the treacherous conditions early and Feeney finished off the job to take victory ahead of the Kollosche AMG Team Tigani Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo shared by Oscar Targett and Shane Smollen.
Thomas Randle recovered from a spin to reward co-driver Mark Rosser and the Team BRM crew with the final step of the podium in the Audi.
Geyer Valmont Racing by Tigani’s Brendon Leitch and Sergio Pires were just off the podium in fourth from Arise Racing GT pairing Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte after a penalty fro contact between the duo’s Ferrari 296 GT3 spun Randle.
Opening corner contact sent the Wolfbrook Audi in the pit lane, Renee Gracie’s Ferrari into a spin and the Move My Wheels by Tigani Mercedes-AMG into retirement, with Jayden Ojeda not getting a steer.
Trophy Class was won by Luke Youlden and Nick Halstead in the sole Porsche 911 GT3R in the field.
Race 2 will commence following a public grid walk at 1:40pm AEDT.
Unable to attend the event? Catch all the action on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports.
Monochrome GT4 Australia
The pair of Multispares Racing Ford Mustang GT4s finished 1-2, but the positions were swapped following a penalty leading to Lochie Dalton and Aaron Cameron taking the win.
Cameron McLeod and Mason Harvey crossed the line first, but a 10s penalty was applied post-race leading to their teammates taking the win. The duo still remained in second ahead of the GWR Australia Toyota Supra Evo2 of Daniel Frougas in Silver Cup.
It was a BMW 1-2 in Silver-Am Cup, with super-sub Dan Jilesen sharing the victory with Ryder Quinn in the Thunder Buddies Racing/Black Diamond M4 G82 GT4 ahead of Randall Racing duo Lachlan Mineeff and Jacob Lawrence.
Cameron Crick and Dean Campbell secured the final spot on the podium in the Method Motorsport Ford Mustang GT4.
In a redemption story, Method Motorsport pairing Nathan Callaghan and Chris Lillis scored the Am Cup podium after crashing heavily at this event last year.
The Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 RS CS headed Glenn Walker’s Gomersall Motorsport Ford Mustang GT4 and the Method Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 of Ryan Sorenson.
Monochrome GT4 Australia will return to the track at 11:10am AEDT tomorrow.
Motorcraft Mustang Cup Australia
Aaron Cameron can lay claim to winning the first ever Motorcraft Mustang Cup Australia race after beating James Golding in a drag race to the line.
The gap was just 0.006s as Cameron entered the front straight in second, but demonstrated the benefits of a side-draft to take the victory.
Golding lost second at Turn 1 to James Moffat, but regained the position at the halfway mark and gradually closed the gap to Cameron before mounting a successful challenge for the lead.
Aided by Golding running wide onto the straight at the final corner, Cameron was able to edge forward to take the win as Moffat took third ahead of Cam McLeod and Joe Fawcett.
Keith Kassulke beat Ben Dunn to the Dark Horse Legends class.
Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia
A thrilling and action-packed opening Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia race, but a dominance performance by Hunter Robb ensured his first win in the category.
The New Zealander avoided the drama behind to convert his maiden pole into a win from a charging Kamal Mrad and a struggling Lincoln Taylor after his Porsche ran wide at Siberia, which stripped off the front splitter.
Hayden Haikal was a contender on his debut, but was too brave on the outside of Turn 1 and ended his race in the gravel trap.
Just like Mrad, Kobi Williams charged and replicated Haikal’s move with little success before running wide at the final corner to end his charge by spinning into the outside gravel trap.
Ruairi Avern was another to spin and narrowly avoided the field after crossing the track out of control at Turn 4.
Behind the lead three were Daniel Quimby, Diesel Thomas and Xavier Avramides.
Anthony Gilbertson won the Am Class from Lachlan Harburg and Stephen Moylan.
Two races are to come tomorrow for Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia beginning at 10:20am and 4:00pm AEDT, respectively.
Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli Australia
Despite a challenge at the opening corner, New Zealander Rick Armstrong has completed back-to-back Trofeo Pirelli wins by adding a Phillip Island win to his previous victory at Bathurst.
A battle behind between Antoine Gittany, Austrian Ernst Kirchmayr, Enzo Cheng and Jim Pollicina. It was Gittany grabbing second ahead of Kirchmayr and Cheng, with Pollicina spinning out of fourth.
Aemel Nordin took Coppa Shell and Ross Tomain Trofeo Pirelli 488 – both in dominating fashion.
Qualifying kicks off tomorrow at 9:40am and Race 2 at 3:10pm AEDT.