Jayden Ojeda and Paul Lucchitti have picked up their first victory of the 2025 GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS season in what was a dominant display during GT Festival The Bend Race 2.
With the pair leading from lights out to the chequered flag, both Ojeda and Lucchitti produced important stints behind the wheel to secure the victory over the Melbourne Performance Centre’s Audi R8 LMS EVO II of Broc Feeney and Brad Schumacher, while series leaders Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte rounded out the Pro-Am podium.
Taking out the Am Class was Melbourne Performance Centre’s Renee Gracie in a faultless drive, with her four-second victory helping her secure the Am Class title after building an unassailable lead in the standings ahead of the final round at Hampton Downs.
In what was an entertaining final race of the visit to Shell V-Power Motorsport Park, a trouble-free race start was highlighted by Team BRM’s Alex Peroni making up three positions by the time the field made it to the first corner and slotted into third.
There were no major incidents to come out of the first half as Ojeda built his lead to more than a second over Evans and Peroni, while Melbourne Performance Centre’s Ryan Wood had also made it past fellow Audi R8 driver Feeney, who had endured a challenging start off the line.
The first major moment in the race then came right before Peroni as the Team BRM Audi R8 LMS EVO II lost all power and limped its way to the side of the track, bringing out the BMW Safety Car.
Lucchitti and Ojeda’s lead that had been extended out to a few seconds was reined back in as a result, leaving Lucchitti with a big task to hold off the chasing pack.
A brilliant restart from Lucchitti saw him retain the lead in the Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, as the second major moment of the race happened shortly after the race was green-flagged again.
This time it was Liam Talbot in the Aston Martin Vantage AMR EVO after the Volante Rosso Motorsport driver clipped Arise Racing GT’s Steve Wyatt in an effort to pass the Ferrari 296 GT3, resulting in a 15-second penalty for the reigning champion.
Ahead of that drama, Schumacher and Schutte found themselves in an entertaining battle for second place in the closing stages as the latter produced some excellent moments of defence. In the end though, Schumacher was able to get the pass done and slot into second place thanks to a brilliant move on the inside.
The pair’s battle for second place gave Lucchitti plenty of breathing space and he ended up steering the Mercedes-AMG home to the well-deserved victory. Finishing in fourth place was Steve Brooks in the Audi R8 LMS EVO II he shared with Wood, while Tigani Motorsport’s George King and Marcel Zalloua completed the top five after Talbot and Jamie Day were handed a 15-second penalty for the contact between Talbot and Wyatt.
In the Am Cup, Gracie effectively led from start to finish as she crossed the finish line in the Audi R8 LMS EVO II ahead of Theo and James Koundouris. Rounding out the class podium were fellow Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO pilots Ben Schoots and Shane Woodman of Black Wolf Motorsport.
Matthew Stoupas and Gary Higgon enjoyed their Trophy Cup win in their Melbourne Performance Centre Audi R8 LMS EVO I.
Just one round remains in the GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS for 2025, with the championship set to make its way across the ditch to New Zealand for the season finale at Hampton Downs on 31 October – 2 November.
NOTE: Results remain provisional subject to the application of the Race 1 success penalties.
Results are HERE
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