Feeney and Schumacher claim GT World Challenge Australia crown after post-race heartache to Arise Racing GT

Broc Feeney and Brad Schumacher have claimed the 2025 GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS Pro-Am title at Hampton Downs in New Zealand today with victory in the final race of the season.

The Race 2 win gave the Kelso Electrical Audi a remarkable clean-sweep of GT Festival Hampton Downs, taking both poles and both race wins before being crowned Pro-Am champions post-race following a penalty to Arise Racing GT’s Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte.

In heartbreaking circumstances, the Ferrari 296 GT3 pilots had led the championship from the opening race at Phillip Island, and only needed to finish fourth in today’s finale to secure the title.

Schutte looked to have done enough to secure the title after crossing the finish line in second place behind Schumacher, who had taken the lead after pouncing on the Ferrari with two laps to go, only for the Ferrari to be handed a time penalty for accelerating too early at the restart of the late Safety Car, dropping him to seventh.

In the end, it saw Arise Racing GT lose the title by a mere three points and made Schumacher the first person in Australia to secure the triple crown – Trophy class champion (2002), Am class champion (2023) and now Pro-Am, while giving Feeney his maiden Australian GT title.

Taking out second place for Race 2 after being promoted from third was the Audi R8 LMS EVO II of Wolfbrook / Melbourne Performance Centre’s Ryan Wood and Steve Brooks, while Tigani Motorsport’s Jayden Ojeda and Paul Lucchitti rounded out the podium after crossing the line in fourth.

Like the Pro-Am champions, Grant Donaldson and Darren Currie also secured the clean sweep of the Am Cup in New Zealand, having converted their pole position to victory.

Feeney and Schumacher’s victory came off the back of a super-strong start from the former, building a solid margin over the first three corners until the first safety car was called when the OnlyFans / Team MPC Audi R8 LMS EVO II of Damien Leitch was sandwiched between the two Tigani Motorsport Mercedes of Ojeda and Geyer Valmont Racing’s George King.

The collision saw the Audi launch into the air, damaging its steering and making it the first casualty of the afternoon. Damage sustained to King’s Mercedes-AMG GT3, which he shared with Marcel Zalloua, also meant it was unable to continue.

Following a succession of pit stops, Schumacher’s Audi dropped to fourth place behind the championship-leading Ferrari of Evans and Schutte, the Ojeda/Lucchitti Mercedes and the second Arise Racing GT entry of Jordan Love and Steven Wyatt.

Schumacher, needing to win the race and hope for misfortune for the Ferrari, made light work of Wyatt’s Ferrari on the out lap and was a man on a mission, getting past Lucchitti with 10 minutes to run.

A mechanical issue for the New Zealand-entered Audi R8 LMS EVO II of Jonny Reid and Fillmore brought out the late safety car – a stoppage that would ultimately prove disastrous for Schutte and euphoric for Schumacher.

The 2026 GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS season kicks off at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in March next year.

Results are HERE