Weekly Racing Roundup (12.5.22)

Shahin Wins Second GTWC Australia Title

Yasser Shahin claimed his second consecutive Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS title by winning two out of three races at the Adelaide season finale alongside Christopher Mies.

The opening race saw Mies narrowly hold off Kelvin van der Linde by less than second after the latter closed down a four-second gap to his fellow Audi Sport factory driver.

Van der Linde and Tony Bates then finished first on the road in Race 2 before receiving a five-second time penalty for a safety car infringement during the early stages.

That handed victory to the Audi pairing of Liam Talbot and Fraser Ross, while Bates and van der Linde settled for second and Shahin closed in on the title with fourth.

The final race of the season started with Shahin, Talbot and Bates running at the head of the field.

Mies then emerged from the driver swaps with a huge 17-second lead in Shahin’s The Bend-liveried Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II after a round of stops under a safety car.

Despite having his advantage erased by another safety car period later on, Mies held firm at the front to deliver both the win and the title for Shahin.

Talbot and Ross finished second after the latter bounced back from contact with van der Linde, while Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim and Jamie Whincup completed the podium for Triple Eight Race Engineering.

Triple Eight’s other Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo didn’t take part in any of the races after championship contender Prince Jefri Ibrahim crashed out of qualifying.

RESULTS: Adelaide / Standings

Other Racing Action

***CrowdStrike by Riley won the 25 Hours of Thunderhill with a Ligier JS P320 Nissan driven by Colin Braun, Felipe Fraga, Matt McMurry and George Kurtz, who crossed the line 86 laps clear of the closest competitor. The race at Thunderhill Raceway Park was temporarily red-flagged for around four hours on Sunday morning due to fog. Results

***Porsche Coanda scored a 1-2 result in round four of the Le Mans Virtual Series which was held over four hours at Sebring. Laurin Heinrich, Joshua Rogers and Mack Bakkum formed the winning crew, beating teammates Ayhancan Guven, Tommy Ostgaard and Mitchell DeJong by just under three seconds. The Redline crew featuring Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen finished fourth.

***ADAC GT4 Germany champions Hugo Sasse and Mike David Ortmann will remain together for an NLS and Nürburgring 24 program with PROSport Racing. The German pair won their GT4 title in a PROSport-run Aston Martin Vantage GT4 but will now graduate to the GT3 equivalent. PROSport is in discussions with Aston Martin Racing about getting factory driver Nicki Thiim on board for the N24 in May.

***Harrolds Volante Rosso Motorsport has confirmed an entry into the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour with a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. Ross Poulakis is the first confirmed driver. The Australian team contested the recent three-hour GTWC Australia race at Mount Panorama.

More News & Notes

***Elite Motorsport has announced plans to run a pair of new McLaren Artura GT4s in the GT4 European Series next year. The British squad is stepping into the GT4 arena from a title-winning stint in Ginetta single-make racing. It expects to take delivery of the Arturas early next year.

***Senkyr Motorsport will field the new BMW M4 GT4 in the GT Winter Series, marking the car’s debut in customer hands. It will line up for the Portimao season opener on Dec. 12-13. Richard Gonda and team owner Robert Senkyr will share driving duties.

***Gabriela Jilkova and Lucile Cypriano have been awarded the Matmut 100% Female Driving Award and will share an Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG GT4 in the next FFSA French GT Championship season as their prize. ASP held several track tests to determine the winners of the initiative, which aims to promote female racing talent.

***Reigning GB3 champion Luke Browning won the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award after a shootout that involved 10 laps in a United Autosports Ligier JS P320 Nissan around Silverstone. Ollie Bearman, Jamie Chadwick also took part.

***Tributes were paid on Sunday to former driver Patrick Tambay, who passed away at the age of 73. Tambay, who had been suffering from Parkinson’s Disease, was best known for his Formula 1 stint with Ferrari, but also entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times and finished fourth as a member of the factory Jaguar team in 1989.

On this weekend: Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli (Yas Marina)