Realta/Tigani Motorsport’s Jayden Ojeda has topped the timesheets in the opening practice session for Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS at Queensland Raceway.
Marking the third round of the sprint season, Ojeda made the perfect start in the Realta/Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to be shared with Paul Lucchitti, setting a 1m 06.947s.
Ojeda led two Supercars stars as Arise Racing GT’s Chaz Mostert and Jaxon Evans completed the top three in the pair of Ferrari 296 GT3s, with 0.247s covering the trio. A recent test day for drivers Liam Talbot and Elliott Schutte has clearly been of benefit to the whole team.
Mostert currently leads the standings together with reigning series winner Talbot by seven-points from Shaw & Partners/Kelso Electrical Team MPC’s Brad Schumacher and Will Brown, who placed fifth.
Peter Hackett and Declan Fraser were fourth in the Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.
Returning after missing Round 2 at The Bend, Brenton Grove was sixth fastest just 0.375s off the pace in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to be shared with father Stephen.
The Team BRM/ACM Finance Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Mark Rosser and Alex Peroni was seventh from the similar example of OnlyFans Team MPC drivers Renee Gracie and Paul Stokell.
Already race winners this season, Dayle ITM Team MPC’s Tim Miles and Brendon Leitch were ninth ahead of the lead Am Class pairing in Ross Poulakis and Chris Batzios in the returning Harrolds Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.
Leading the Am Class standings, RAM Motorsport’s Mike Sheargold and Garth Walden were just 0.040 in arrears of the Harrolds Racing entry.
At the head of Trophy Class was Darren Currie and Valentino Astuti in the KMB Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3 in 13th outright, which was just ahead of the debuting AMR Vantage GT3 of Volante Rosso Motorsport’s Alex Gardner and Ben Porter in what is the squad’s maiden meeting in this variant. It had a minor spin, but recovered back to pit lane.
Audi Sport Customer Racing Australia’s Ash Samadi, the Black Wolf Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Shane Woodman and Ben Schoots in addition to the Koundouris brothers, James and Theo in the Supabarn Supermarkets/Tigani Motorsport entry filled 14th through 16th.
The Scott Taylor Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R (Type 997) of Paul Morris and Scott Taylor were just ahead of Marc Cini of Hallmarc Team MPC to round out the field.
Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS returns to the track at Queensland Raceway for its second practice session at 3:25pm AEST.