Miles/Leitch claim epic Audi battle

A defensive masterclass saw Tim Miles and Brendon Leitch win a thrilling GT World Challenge Australia Phillip Island finale after overcoming Brad Schumacher/Will Brown in an epic all-Audi tussle.

After Leitch did well to keep up with leaders Jayden Ojeda and Chaz Mostert in the opening stint, Miles found himself in the lead for the second half of the race once the stops were completed.

However, his advantage was wiped out by Schumacher in a flash, setting up a thrilling cat and mouse fight inside the final 15 minutes.

It went down to the wire between the Melbourne Performance Centre teammates as Schumacher gave it everything, but ultimately pushed a touch too hard at Southern Loop and spun on the penultimate lap.

The excursion to the sand allowed Paul Lucchitti/Jayden Ojeda to snatch second, while Schumacher only just held onto third from a charging Liam Talbot.

Dramas during and after the pit stop ruined Talbot’s and Chaz Mostert’s hopes of back to back wins and they had to settle for fourth.

Although Miles won by 10s, it was much, much closer than that.

Mostert led into turn 1 but could not shake off Ojeda, who hung tough and was rewarded by snatching he lead on the inside of Southern Loop.

Garth Walden gets airborne after being speared off in some first lap chaos on pit straight. Image: Rebecca Hind Revved Photography

Leitch snatched third from Brown as Fraser also leaped Evans’ Ferrari to get into the top five

It was wild behind with Alex Peroni, Bates and Garth Walden going side by side under the bridge and a chain reaction of door to door contact sent the latter spearing off deep into the infield.

Amazingly Walden was able to carry on despite the bumpy ride into the paddock.

Despite getting track position, Ojeda was unable to build a big advantage up front as little separated the Mercedes and Ferrari.

As the stint progressed Mostert started slowly creep towards the back of the #66 and bring the gap under three tenths.

But they held station with Leitch sitting just over a second back.

The #1 Ferrari first to pit with 25 min left but this is where things unravelled with Mostert handing over to Talbot, who suffered a drama leaving the lane and had to stop to avoid contact with another car.

The reigning champion’s race took a further turn for the worse when he arrived at Southern Loop.

With cold tyres and alarms on the dash, Talbot lost the rear and spun into the grass and as a result the #1 went from second prior to the stops to down in seventh and almost 50s off the pace.

Just 3s covered the top three but the leader’s advantage started to grow as Luccchitti and Schumacher.

The Audi overcame the Mercedes with Schumacher diving down the inside at Miller Corner.

The sister Arise Racing Ferrari was also in trouble with Elliott Schutte going off at the final corner.

Within five minutes Miles’ lead had been cut down from three seconds to just three tenths with Schumacher looking strong under brakes.

However, Miles had his elbows out and defended brilliantly 

On lap 30 with around eight minutes left Schumacher stepped up his assault, having a look at MG and also pulling out of the draft down the Gardner Straight.

With four minutes to go Schumacher then had a big dive at Miller Corner, but again Miles was too strong around the outside.

Eventually Miles’ defensive masterclass meant Schumacher cracked under pressure.

A penultimate-lap move at the Southern Loop went wrong, with Schumacher poking the nose on corner exit, but lost the rear and spun into the gravel.

It vaulted Lucchitti into second and suddenly Schumacher was under threat from Talbot, who was on the charge.

The Ferrari also had a look at MG but could not quite get by the Audi.

It was a thrilling finish to the opening round of the GT World Challenge Australia, which returns at The Bend on May 31-June 2.

GT World Challenge Phillip Island race 2 results

Image: Rebecca Hind Revved Photography

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