Volante Rosso Scores First Aston Win at Sandown

Volante Rosso Motorsport scored its first GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS victory since switching to Aston Martin machinery in last weekend’s fourth round of the season at Sandown Raceway.

Liam Talbot and Jamie Day took the win in a rain-impacted second race of the weekend at the Victoria circuit aboard the No. 1 Aston Martin Vantage GT3, just under a year on from Volante Rosso’s first race with the British manufacturer.

The milestone win came on British driver Day’s first weekend in the series after being named as Declan Fraser’s replacement for the rest of the season.

Saturday’s opening race, held in dry weather, was won by Arise Racing GT Ferrari duo Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte, who followed up that result with third place on Sunday to enhance their championship lead with two rounds remaining.

Schutte had started the opener from pole in the No. 26 Arise Ferrari from pole, only to drop to third behind Brad Schumacher’s No. 888 Melbourne Performance Centre Audi and Talbot’s Aston Martin in a frenetic opening handful of corners.

Schumacher however was handed a five-second penalty for overtaking off-track, which gave Volante Rosso the upper hand during the pit stops, putting Day into the lead for the second stint ahead of George King’s Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

Evans meanwhile took over the No. 26 Ferrari in third but wasted no time in demoting King before chasing down Day in the leading Aston Martin.

The decisive move came with 19 minutes to go as Day let Evans by with a mistake at Turn 9, before dropping further places and then spinning off at Turn 1 some minutes later.

Evans had to deal with late-race pressure from the No. 88 MPC Audi of Ryan Wood, who took over from Steve Brooks at the pit stops, but hung on by less than three tenths of a second to earn he and Schutte’s fourth win of the season.

Completing the podium was Broc Feeney in the Kelso Electrical-backed Audi started by Schumacher, ahead of Jayden Ojeda and Paul Lucchitti in the No. 66 Tigani Mercedes-AMG and the sister No. 55 car of King and Sergio Pires.

In the second race, rain had an immediate impact as poleman Jordan Love spun his No. 77 Arise Ferrari to hand the early advantage to Ojeda, who led until the pit stops.

Ojeda’s co-driver Lucchitti resumed in the lead the BRM Audi of Mark Rosser, started by Alex Peroni, Schumacher’s MPC Audi and Talbot’s Aston Martin.

But it was Talbot who excelled most in the tricky conditions, passing Schumacher and Rosser in short order before going after Lucchitti for the race lead, impressively reeling in the Mercedes-AMG driver’s seven-second advantage in a matter of minutes.

With 12 minutes to go, Talbot forced his way by at the Turn 11-12 chicane, with Schumacher following through for second and finishing a second behind the Aston.

Lucchitti would surrender a further position to Schutte in the championship-leading Arise Ferrari to finish fourth, while Rosser came through to complete the top five.

Evans and Schutte now hold a 31-point lead over Feeney and Schumacher with four races to go, with Ojeda and Lucchitti a distant third, 65 points adrift.

Black Wolf Mercedes-AMG duo Ben Schoots and Shande Woodman scored their second Am class victory on their return to the series in Saturday’s opener, but Renee Gracie got her revenge on Sunday in the MPC Audi she pilots solo.

An early crash for Theo Koundouris on Sunday means Gracie is within touching distance of the class title with a mammoth 74-point lead over Schoots and Woodman.

The penultimate round of the GTWC Australia season will take place at The Bend Motorsport Park on Sept. 5-7.

RESULTS: Race 1/Race 2