Mies Takes Win as Shahin Clinches Title in Race 1

Photo: GTWC Australia

Yasser Shahin has clinched the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS Pro-Am drivers’ championship with a last-gasp victory delivered by Christopher Mies in Thursday’s opening race of the season-ending event at Mount Panorama.

The Audi Sport factory driver got around the No. 65 Coin Spot-sponsored Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo of Fraser Ross with six minutes to go in the 60-minute contest and cruised to a 6.01-second win.

Mies, who only arrived at the track on race day morning after being forced to serve a 72-hour hotel quarantine due to a late change in international arrival rules, recovered more than 15 seconds after climbing behind the wheel of the Melbourne Performance Centre-run Audi.

The German driver set the race’s fastest lap on the final tour of the famed 6.12-km Bathurst circuit.

Shahin led the race following a frantic start that saw pole-sitter Liam Talbot drop to second after the No. 17 Audi of Mark Rosser made a false start before dropping back in line.

Rosser then plowed into the back of the No. 69 Audi of James Koundouris upon braking into The Chase on the opening lap to bring out the race’s only safety car period.

However, Shahin’s Audi was forced to serve a 15-second longer pit stop due to the series’ success handicap, which set up Mies’ impressive come-from-behind win.

Two pit lane infringement penalties for the No. 4 Grove Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R dropped Brenton Grove out of a top-five finish after a fierce battle with Peter Hackett in the No. 888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. 

Hackett and co-driver Prince Jefri Ibrahim came home fourth, with the No. 96 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 of Brett Hobson completing the overall podium and taking Am class honors.

Grove, meanwhile, finished seventh overall, behind the No. 124 KFC-sponsored Audi and No. 45 RAM Motorsport Mercedes on series debut.

The season-ending race gets underway Friday at 8:55 a.m. local time (Thursday, 4:55 p.m. ET) with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube page.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John