Schumacher and Feeney take wild GT race
After luck cost them a podium on Saturday, fortune favoured Brad Schumacher and Broc Feeney on Sunday as they emerged from a wild second GT World Challenge Australia race on top.
Phillip Island threw everything at the field with penalties, incidents and a sudden late rain shower creating an ever-evolving race that did not stop presenting drivers with challenges until the very end.
Alex Peroni and Mark Rosser controlled the majority of the hour-long race, but a drive through for a pit stop infringement wiped them out before it ended in the Miller Corner gravel.
The EMA Porsche of Dorain Boccolacci and Shane Smollen was the nearest challenger, but they were hurt from a spin at Siberia.
Schumacher and Feeney managed to avoid all the chaos to emerge victorious by just 0.7s from the hard charging Liam Talbot.
For the second day in a row Talbot and Declan Fraser pulled off a stunning comeback from last on the grid and flew home in the Aston Martin to reduce Schumacher’s lead from 10s to nothing, but just fell short.
Completing the podium were Saturday winners Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte, who also had to work hard in the final stint being deep in the top 10.
Sergio Pires/George King and Tim Miles/Brendon Leitch completed the top five as Renae Gracie claimed Am honours.
When the lights went out Peroni got out of place too early and immediately took the lead from Boccolacci in the run down to Turn 1.
Despite Peroni believing Boccolacci slowed down, the stewards only took two laps to hand the Team BRT driver a 5s penalty for a start breach.
The fight for third was much tighter with Evans and Ojeda running side by side for the first four corners before the Ferrari snuck ahead at Miller Corner.
Feeney did not get a getaway as he dropped from fifth to seventh, promoting Leitch and Love.
Yet again the #1 Aston Martin had to start from the back and Fraser charged from 15th to 11th but that was as far as he got.
Knowing he needed to get a move on due to the penalty, Peroni pulled more than a second on Boccolacci by the 15 minute mark, while the top two were a further 3s clear of the rest.
Despite a brief challenge from Ojeda at MG, Evans’ grip of the final podium place remained tight through the first 20 minutes.
But 10 minutes later it was on again at the same corner and contact was made between the Ferrari and Mercedes as the Kiwi shut the door.
It was a case of third time lucky as Ojeda caught Evans off guard coming out of MG and finally seized upon third.
Leitch also tried to pounce, but all this did was allow Jordan Love to pass him for fifth after the Kiwi could not quite stay on track coming out of Doohan.
As they carried on their battle all the way to the end of the stint, this played into the hands of Peroni as they drifted more than 7s off the leader.
However, the Team BRM driver could not shake off the EMA Porsche with Boccolacci ensuring he remained well placed ahead of the stops, being just half a second away.
The stops started after 20 laps and 33 minutes when Ojeda, plus both of the Arise Racing Ferraris boxed.
A lap later the top two followed each other into the lane where Peroni/Rosser served their 5s penalty as the other Pro entries all pitted as well.
Many thought Rosser would not retain the lead due to the penalty, but instead the Team BRM Audi extended its advantage and emerged with a 14s buffer.
Smollen lost a significant amount of time when he tried to leave the pit box and slumped to fourth behind Schumacher and Miles.
The EMA Porsche quickly picked off Miles, but only after the pair banged doors at the Southern Loop.
With the Kiwi struggled to light up the cold rear tyres and got swamped by Smollen and Wyatt, while Lucchitti also tried to pounce, but spun in the process.
Miles received a 15s penalty for the incident and it proved costly as he had reclaimed fourth with a committed move around the outside of Wyatt at Doohan.
Lucchitti’s battles carried on as he had another spin at Siberia, while another big loser from the stops was Schutte due to the pit stop time.
All eyes were on Talbot, who was setting a scorching pace in the #1 and pushed it all the way to the top four.
Incredibly the Aston Martin was lapping more than a second per lap faster than leader Rosser and a podium was not out of the question.
That became a reality when Smollen spun from second on the exit of Siberia and limped back to the lane with a flat tyre.
The drama was far from over with a pit lane penalty for a pit stop breach destroying Rosser’s lead.
He served the penalty seven minutes from home, ensuring Schumacher suddenly found himself in the lead.
This promoted Schumacher into the lead and Talbot up to second, while Pires also emerged from some battles in third.
Just to add another piece of drama, reports of rain surfaced with just six minutes left on the clock and it got heavy inside the final two minutes.
With the field on slicks on a soaked track, there was no certainty of making the finish.
Schumacher had a solid 8s lead, but that was being reduced dramatically from Talbot in the closing stages, being reduced to just 3s within two laps.
Talbot ended up coming within 0.7s but just could not get close enough to challenge for the lead in a cliffhanger.
Schutte made some late moves to snare a podium place with his pass on Miles hairy as both cars skated off at Miller.
Only Lucchitti and Rosser failed to finish despite the tough conditions.
The teams have to catch their breath before the second round at Sydney Motorsport Park on May 2-4.
Image: GT World Challenge Australia
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