Updated: Smollen awarded wild GT4 win
Method Motorsport’s Shane Smollen has won a wet and wild GT4 Australia race at a soaked Queensland Raceway.
Multispares Racing rookies Ryan Hansford and Aaron Cameron were the provisional winners, but were involved in a major accident that brought the one-hour race to an early end.
Hansford and Method Motorsport’s Lochlan Hennock were locked in a titanic battle for the lead inside the final 10 minutes.
Hennock passed Hansford coming out of the final corner at the end of the lap, and with six and a half minutes remaining, fans were readying themselves for a thrilling finish.
Hansford then tried to launch a run down the inside as they approached the start-finish line.
However, the Multispares Racing driver aquaplaned in doing so, which put the #27 Ford Mustang GT4 on a high-speed, head-on collision course with the barrier.
Hansford suffered a sickening impact, which was so severe that the Ford travelled across the entire infield.
With the Tim Leahey BMW also stranded, the race was unable to be resumed, and results were not settled until well after the chequered flag.
Six cars had penalties applied, and Hansford and Cameron slipped from first to eighth.
However, Hennock and Morcom were 11th, having also been penalised for a Safety Car procedure breach.
All this chaos left Am driver Smollen on top and getting an unlikely win, having been fourth.
The #1 Method Motorsport Porsche ended up 12s clear of Leahey, and Cody Burcher, who claimed Silver, while Marcus LaDelle and Jarrod Keyte secured a podium finish in just their third race.
Silver Am went to Frougas and Berryman in the Toyota Supra Evo 2.
Despite the post-race penalty dropping Tom Hayman and Max Geoghegan from second to ninth, they were still the Silver Cup runners-up.
Many will be hoping to see less damage when GT4 racing returns at 9.45 AEST.
Image: 7Plus
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