GT racing is just what The Bend Motorsport Park was designed for and as the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS prepares for its third trip to the circuit under this banner, it’s time to reflect on the previous trips.
The first trip to The Bend for GTs coincided with the venue’s debut on the national stage on the full International layout.
Many of the same names competing this season including reigning Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia winner Liam Talbot, returnee Tony Bates, Peter Hackett and Ash Samadi all featured in this race.
However it was Max Twigg and Tony D’Alberto securing a dominant win for Scott Taylor Motorsport in its Mercedes-AMG GT3 from Talbot in the Walkinshaw Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R sharing alongside John Martin. Rounding out the podium were Steven Richards and Michael Almond for BMW Team STM in its stunning M6 GT3.
Talbot went one better the next year by teaming with Shane van Gisbergen in the Trofeo Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 in a dominating performance.
Geoff Emery and Garth Tander finished second for Audi on the way to winning the Australian Endurance Championship, while Hackett was third in the Eggleston Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 shared with New Zealander Dom Storey.
Due to the global pandemic, it was another two years before the newly rebranded Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS returned as it was Yasser Shahin and Tander taking both wins in changeable conditions. Am Class also had a dual winner in the form of Tony Quinn in his Aston Martin, while current frontrunner Brad Schumacher split the GT Trophy results with the fan favourite Nissan GT-R GT3 of Brett Hobson.
Mentioning the weather, 2022 provided even more of a challenge and forced the cancellation of Race 2 due to the extremity of the conditions.
Triple Eight Race Engineering this time enjoyed success thanks to Prince Jefri Ibrahim and van Gisbergen to enter title calculations.
Entering The Bend in 2024, the scorecard reads: Mercedes-AMG 2, Audi 2, Lamborghini 1.
Since the last trip most of the GT3 models competing now feature upgrade kits and a new layout will be used with The Bend’s West configuration being utilised for Round 2 on May 31-June 2 as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries to be broadcast on the Seven Network.