Weekly Racing Roundup (11.14.22)

Ibrahim, Feeney Win Three-Hour Bathurst Race 

Prince Jefri Ibrahim and Broc Feeney won the inaugural Bathurst International at Mount Panorama and earned the Motorsport Australia Endurance Championship in the process.

Feeney’s final stint charge decided the three-hour Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS contest in favor of his and Ibrahim’s No. 888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

After hounding Tim Slade’s Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II for several laps, Feeney drove past the Schumacher Motorsport driver on the run down to Hell Corner with 29 minutes to go.

Slade finished second alongside Brad Schumacher, while Jordan Love and Ross Poulakis completed the podium in a Harrolds Volante Rosso Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Triple Eight claimed victory after only one of its two Mercedes-AMGs made the starting grid. Jamie Whincup and Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim withdrew following Ibrahim’s qualifying crash at McPhillamy Park which resulted in the No. 88 car ending up on its roof.

That meant only a dozen cars took the start, from which pole-sitter Schumacher led the damp early stages with Ibrahim in tow.

Feeney got right onto the tail of Slade during the second stint, but the Audi remained ahead and saw its advantage increase to 15 seconds during Schumacher and Ibrahim’s second turn against each other.

After the final round of stops, Feeney returned to the Triple Eight car and successfully hunted down Slade to claim his first GT3 win at Mount Panorama, after finishing third with Ibrahim and Shane van Gisbergen at the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour in May.

The final round of the GTWC Australia season takes place on the streets of Adelaide on Dec. 1-4.

RESULTS: Bathurst

Other Racing Action & News

***The Ultimate Cup Series held its final round of the season at Paul Ricard last weekend. Emmanuel Collard and Charles-Henri Samani won the four-hour GT enduro in their Racetivity Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, beating a Ferrari crew from the Visiom team and two Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMGs. Results

***Other winners at Ricard included Graff, which prevailed in the four-hour prototype race with a Ligier JS P320 Nissan, and inaugural GT Hypersprint series champion Scuderia Ravetto & Ruberti with a Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020.

***BMW M Motorsport has started the customer rollout of the new BMW M4 GT4. The car will be eligible around the world from next year.

***Former LMP2 squad Eurasia Motorsport has committed to the revived Sepang 12 Hours with a Hyundai i30N TCR. The driver lineup is yet to be determined.

***Mercedes-AMG driver Maro Engel has broken the Nürburgring Nordschleife production car lap record in a Mercedes-AMG One. The experienced GT3 driver completed the 12.994-mile course, which had some damp patches, in a time of 6:35.183. Engel reclaimed the coveted top spot by going eight seconds quicker than Lars Kern’s previous record in a Porsche 911 GT2 RS MR.

On this weekend: Macau GT Cup (Guia Circuit)