Arise Racing GT Ferraris Sweep Phillip Island Weekend

Arise Racing GT’s pair of Ferrari 296 GT3s swept the fourth round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS season at Phillip Island, with the team’s two cars scoring a win apiece in the inaugural GT Festival.

Chaz Mostert and Liam Talbot scored victory in Saturday’s opener in the No. 1 Arise Ferrari, claiming their second win of the year, while stablemates Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte took a first victory together in the sister No. 8 entry on Sunday.

Talbot took the start from pole in the opening race and opened up an advantage over the second-placed Team BRM Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Mark Rosser before handing over his Ferrari to Mostert at the mandatory pit stops.

From there it was a straightforward run to the finish for Mostert as he took the checkered flag by a little over six seconds ahead of his opposite number in the BRM Audi, single-seater convert Alex Peroni, at the end of the 39-lap contest.

Claiming the final podium spot was the Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Declan Fraser and Peter Hackett, despite an early incident.

Hackett dropped to the back of the pack after first-lap contact with the Melbourne Performance Centre Audi of Paul Stokell, for which Stokell was penalized, but he and Fraser fought their way back through the pack, helped by misfortune for other cars.

Brendon Leitch looked on course for third place in the MPC Audi he shares with Tim Miles, only for a tire problem to hit on the penultimate lap, while Evans’ Arise Ferrari, which Leitch had passed for third, was also hit with a similar issue.

Those dramas also promoted the Grove Racing Mercedes-AMG of Stephen and Brenton Grove to fourth ahead of the MPC Audi of Will Brown and Brad Schumacher, which was set back by a spin for Schumacher in the opening stint.

Am class honors went to the Tigani Motorsport-run Valmont Racing Audi of Marcel Zalloua and Sergio Pires in seventh overall.

Arise scored a 1-2 finish in Sunday’s second race as Evans and Schutte were followed home by Mostert and Talbot, the two Ferraris split by just three tenths at the finish.

Mostert led from pole as Jayden Ojeda briefly got among the Arise pair by passing Evans for second, only for the Tigani Mercedes-AMG man to lose the place and then get embroiled in contact with Alex Gardner’s Volante Rosso Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

That impact put both cars out and brought out the safety car, after which Mostert led teammate Evans until the mandatory pit stops that saw the No. 1 Ferrari lose ground owing to its success penalty.

Talbot passed the Grove Racing Mercedes-AMG of Stephen Grove and Miles’ Team MPC Audi to get back to second, but there was nothing he could do about Schutte up front.

The father-and-son Grove duo completed the podium followed by the Team BRM Audi of Rosser and Peroni and the Triple Eight Mercedes-AMG of Hackett and Fraser, which was set back by an early spin for Fraser.

Schumacher meanwhile spun out of fifth place late on in a blow to he and teammate’s Brown’s title chances, finishing eighth behind the Am class-winning RAM Motorsport Mercedes-AMG of Garth Walden and Mike Sheargold.

After a near-perfect weekend at Phillip Island, Mostert and Talbot now have an enhanced lead of 30 points in the drivers’ standings from Schumacher and Brown, while Evans and Schutte move up to third, a further four points back.

The Fanatec GT Australia season continues with the penultimate round at Sydney Motorsport Park on October 18-20.

RESULTS: Race 1/Race 2