Inclement conditions provided a challenge for all five categories on a busy Friday at Queensland Raceway as the Shannons SpeedSeries made its sole visit to the Sunshine State for the EVENTelec GT Festival Queensland.
GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS, Monochrome GT4 Australia, Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge, First Focus Radical Cup Australia and the National Sports Sedan Series were all on show ahead of a jam packed weekend, which will be broadcast live and free on the Seven Network.
Tickets are available for purchase at speedseries.com.au/tickets
GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS
Twin practice and a Pre-Qualifying session started Round 3 of the GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS season in Queensland.
A recent test for Volante Rosso Motorsport paid dividends as Declan Fraser and Liam Talbot led the way at the end of the opening session in the team’s Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3, edging out the Arise Racing GT Ferrari 296 GT3 of Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte by 0.105s.
Making their GT World Challenge Australia debut at Queensland were Luke Youlden and Nathan Halstead in a Trophy Class Porsche 911 GT3-R (Type 991), but the duo was a surprise third overall at the end of the opening session.
The second practice session went the way of last year’s race winners Alex Peroni and Mark Rosser in the Team BRM/ACM Finance Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.
Pre-Qualifying continued the Audi domination, but this time it was Feeney and Schumacher taking the honours in an extremely wet session over the Realta/Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Jayden Ojeda and Paul Lucchitti.
In the Am class, it was pure domination from Renee Gracie as she led the way in all three sessions behind the wheel of the OnlyFans Team MPC Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.
As for the battle of the Trophy Class, Paul Stokell and Gary Higgon ended up fastest in Practice 2 and Pre-Qualifying.
Action begins tomorrow at 9:40am AEST for Qualifying on 7plus.
Monochrome GT4 Australia
Method Motorsport made the perfect start to Round 3 at Queensland Raceway by pacing the opening practice session.
Tom Hayman and Max Geoghegan set the fastest time in the Method Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 to lead Jake Camilleri driving the Gomersall Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 and the Purdie Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4 shared by Blake Purdie and Daniel Price in Silver Cup.
Silver-Am Cup was led by Lochie Dalton and Ben Newman in the Buckby Motorsport Mercedes-AMG from a pair of Toyotas. GWR Australia’s Daniel Frougas and Tim Berryman led the similar Toyota Supra GT4 Evo2 of New Zealand debutant Chris White and Tony Quinn for Game Over to round out the top three.
Continuing his irrepressible form from Sydney, Shane Smollen dominated Am Class in the opening session to place his Method Motorsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS at the top, as he went faster than Porsche of Nathan Callaghan and Chris Lillis, with Glenn Walker completing the top three in his Gomersall Motorsport-run BMW M4 F82.
Pre-Qualifying followed as Jarrod Hughes and Summer Rintoule set the fastest time in a drier session driving the Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes-AMG.
The Miedecke Motorsport with Lubrimaxx Ford Mustang GT4 of Rylan Gray and George Miedecke was second to the Mercedes-AMG, pipping Camilleri.
Lachlan Mineeff and Rob Rubis in their G56 for this round set the pace in Silver-Am Cup just ahead of the Buckby Motorsport Mercedes-AMG of Dalton/Newman, while Frougas/Berryman continued their strong run to complete the day third.
Paul Morris and Chris Pappas finished atop the Am Cup positions in the Norwell Factory Racing McLaren 570s GT4, with Jacob Lawrence in second driving the Randall Racing BMW M4 GT4 G82.
Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge
Lachlan Bloxsom and James Lodge split the honours on Friday in Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge at Queensland Raceway.
Bloxsom struck first in the opening session to lead New Zealanders Willie Exton and Tom Bewley, while Ramu Farrell was fourth outright in the lead Am Class entry.
James Lodge turned the tables for Ashley Seward Motorsport to lead the closing session of the day from Jake Santalucia and Jackson Rooney.
Farrell again was top five outright to lead Am Class, while Daniel Quimby took the Class B honours in both sessions.
Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge begins its day tomorrow with Qualifying at 9:00am AEST.
First Focus Radical Cup Australia
Chris Reindler and Bryce Moore ended the opening session fastest from Sydney winner Cooper Cutts and perennial frontrunner Peter Paddon.
It’s the first time the category has competed at Queensland Raceway since 2023 and it experienced the heaviest rain of the day during its sessions.
Zig Fuhrmeister led the second practice session from Reindler and Paddon, while Reindler and Moore rounded out the day on top from Cutts, with Mark Cirillo completing the top three.
Qualifying for First Focus Radical Cup Australia is at 10:35am AEST.
National Sports Sedans Series
Welcoming the National Sports Sedans Series for the first time this year, Geoff Taunton was on top in two out of three practice sessions in his IRC GT SS on the National Sports Sedans first appearance on the Shannons SpeedSeries in 2025.
Taunton will have a worthy challenger in young gun Cadel Edwards in the Chev-powered Audi A4, who was second in two sessions and finished fastest in the final one of the day.
Daniel Crompton in his Ford Mustang, the Holden Calibra of Steve Tamasi and Michael Rowell’s IRC GT SS will form most of the other expected contenders after displaying strong pace in practice.
The National Sports Sedans Series kick off proceedings tomorrow morning with qualifying at 8:30am AEST tomorrow.
