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GT World Challenge Australia

Shahin, Tander Win Race 2 at The Bend

Yasser Shahin, Garth Tander claim fourth overall win of season at The Bend…

Photo: Daniel Kalisz

A late-race pass on Stephen Grove has given Yasser Shahin and Garth Tander provisional victory in Sunday’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS round at The Bend Motorsport Park.

Shahin pedaled the No. 777 Melbourne Performance Centre Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo to a 10.5-second win over Grove’s Porsche 911 GT3 R following a late charge by the Audi driver, who emerged from third at the start of his stint.

A five-second post-race time penalty for a pit lane incident with the No. 24 Audi of Tony Bates saw the official margin of victory reduced but was still enough for the win.

An impressive start from fourth on the grid saw Brenton Grove lead early until a pass by the No. 777 MPC Audi of Garth Tander on Lap 11.

Tander opened his Audi up to a narrow 1.2-second lead prior to the mid-race pit stops and driver changes with 26 minutes to go, which saw both the No. 777 Audi and No. 888 Triple Eight Engineering Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo held for additional time due to their success in Race 1 of the weekend.

Grove rejoined with an eight-second advantage over Prince Jefri Ibrahim, who was passed by Shahin with 20 minutes remaining and set up his charge to the front, getting by the No. 4 Porsche for the lead into Turn 1 with eight minutes to go.

It marked Shahin and Tander’s fourth overall win out of six races this season and fifth counting its Pro-Am class win on Saturday.

Ibrahim came home third in the Triple Eight Mercedes ahead of the Trophy Am class-winning No. 55 Audi R8 LMS ultra of Brad Schumacher, who was classified fourth overall.

Bates completed the top-five overall in the No. 24 MPC Audi that was started by Dylan O’Keefe.

Saturday’s race-winning Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 of Brett Hobson was one of four retirements in Race 2, with Hobson completing only five laps due to gear selection issues.

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

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