Brad Schumacher and Will Brown has led the way after opening practice for the first round of Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS at the framed Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.
Schumacher in the Shaw & Partners/Kelso Electrical entry led an Audi 1-2-3 as FIA Formula 3 podium winner Alex Peroni on debut placed the ACM Finance R8 LMS GT3 Evo 2 he'll share alongside Mark Rosser in second, while the similar example driven by New Zealand international Brendon Leitch placed second in the Dayle ITM entry was third, teaming with Tim Miles.
A 1m 34.945s got Schumacher the top spot, 0.929s clear of Rosser and Peroni.
A last gasp lap from Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Peter Hackett in the Romeo-supported Mercedes-AMG GT3 was good enough for fourth ahead of Grove Racing’s Brenton Grove and Chaz Mostert led the Ferrari challenge in sixth for Arise Racing GT.
Renee Gracie set the seventh fastest time in the OnlyFans Team MPC Audi to round off the top seven Pro-Am entries.
The leading Am Class entry was the Valmont Racing Audi shared by Marcel Zalloua and Sergio Pires in eighth, with Elliott Schutte in the second Arise Racing GT Ferrari 296 GT3.
Michael Sheargold and Garth Walden in the Daft Punk-inspired Mercedes-AMG GT3 for RAM Motorsport completed the outright top 10 in addition to being second in Am Class.
Tigani Motorsport’s Pro-Am entry for Paul Lucchitti and Jayden Ojeda rounded out the class field in 11th, with Audi Sport Customer Racing Australia’s Ash Samadi, the new Black Wolf Racing squad fielding the Mercedes-AMG of Shane Woodman sharing with Ben Schoots in addition to the sole-GT Trophy entry Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 of Valentino Astuti, joining owner Michael Bailey coming in quick succession.
James and Theo Koundouris in the Tigani Motorsport Am Class Mercedes-AMG were 15th, with Marc Cini rounding out the runners in the Hallmarc Team MPC Audi.
The Ashley Seward Motorsport-prepared Mercedes-AMG GT3 for Tony Bates didn’t complete a lap.
A brief shower prior to track action led to a damp start to the session, however conditions continued to improve throughout the hour-long run.
Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS returns to the track for a second practice session at 1:30pm AEST.