Talbot and Day get maiden Aston Martin win
Liam Talbot and Jamie Day have put Aston Martin into the GT World Challenge Australia victory lane in Sandown, but only just.
In another wet race, the Sandown SpeedSeries finale went down to the wire with Talbot squaring off with Brad Schumacher and Broc Feeney.
The final-lap duel saw the Aston Martin and Audi side by side, with Schumacher squeezed out at Turn 4, but not without contact.
It was an exciting end to a dramatic weekend as Talbot and Day got a maiden win in the Volante Rosso Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage.
Talbot simply believed Schumacher was “ambitious” in his attempt to get past.
“The car felt great. Jamie did a great job at the start and it was so much fun in the rain,” he said.
“I mean I was a little bit cautious and did not know it was the last lap. He (Schumacher) was ambitious yesterday and today was no different.”
The race started amid emotional scenes as the entire SpeedSeries community paid a special tribute to former favourite Tim Miles.
Miles’ MPC Audi R8 he shared with Brendon Leitch took a special tour of Sandown with his co-driver behind the wheel, saluting his mate with burnouts.
To complete the tribute, a rainbow even appeared over the field as they lay on the grid beneath sunshine.
Having already endured a pre-race shower, this left teams in a scramble to decide which tyres to run.
Love and Ojeda went side by side through the first two corners, but there was calamity at the third.
Love wrestled the lead, but threw it away by dropping it on the exit kerb of Turn 3 and spinning 180 degrees resulting in a light graze with the armco.
This promoted Okeda into the lead by a full second over Holdsworth, while Feeney was lucky to cling onto third after trips through the Turns 12 and 3.
Evans was all over the back of the #888 before the Safety Car arrived at the end of the second lap due to Tony Koundouris finding the wall head-on on the exit of Turn 3.
Having gotten away with a similar mistake, Love was the big winner as he emerged 10th and could catch up with the pack.
Racing resumed at the 17 minute mark and Ojeda hurt himself with a poor exit from the final corner and just kept Holdsworth at bay.
Despite this, the Mercedes still skipped to a 1s lead after the first green flag lap after Holdsworth made a mistake at the final chicane.
Further back Jamie Day made an aggressive dive on Wood to snare fifth at Turn 3, only to sacrifice it with another mistake at Turn 1, but this was not as costly as Saturday.
Evans was on the move and raced his way past Feeney to get onto the podium.
The “Prancing Horse” kept on galloping, hunting down Holdsworth and contact at Turn 4 brought Feeney into play and made it a three-car battle.
The Arise Racing driver managed to finally snare second from Holdsworth down the back straight and Feeney repeated the move just before the rain returned just before the halfway mark.
Once released Evans cleared the pair by 2s in smart time to emerge as Ojeda’s biggest threat as the Mercedes was already a further 4s clear.
That gap shrunk to 3.1s before the stops sparked a new phase of the race.
All of the contenders aside from Peroni pitted on Lap 18 to perform driver changes and Lucchitti not only retained track position in the Mercedes, but grew its lead as no one changed tyres with more rain on the way.
The #66 Mercedes emerged 12s ahead of Marc Cini, while Schumacher and Talbot jumped Schutte, who was hit by the pit stop time and lost 17s.
However, the trio jumped Cini within a handful of laps to ignite the fight for the podium, where there was a new player.
Mark Rosser, who changed with Alex Peroni, emerged into second, just 11s behind Lucchitti, having enjoyed less pit stop time.
Schumacher with Talbot in tow quickly caught the #268 Audi, but it was the Aston Martin that made the first move.
Talbot muscled his way past Schumacher with a late dive at Dandenong Road for third before repeating the same move to snare second from Rosser.
Schumacher waited another four corners before also picking off the Audi to knock Rosser off the podium.
It did not take long for the pair to find themselves in a fight for the lead as they slashed Lucchitti’s advantage within a handful of laps.
For the second day in a row the leading trio were nose to tail, but this time with 11 minutes still on the clock.
But with the Aston Martin having a significant speed advantage, Lucchitti did not put up much of a fight.
Talbot snatched the lead at the final turn, while Schumacher seized his moment at the end of the main straight.
It was now a two-car fight for victory with just less than 2s separating Talbot and Schumacher with 10 minutes remaining and the rain getting heavier.
The change in conditions caught out Cini, who became the third driver to spear into the inside wall at Turn 3.
Fortunately it was light enough contact for the Audi to carry on, but not before falling to the back of the Pro Am class.
Only a handful of laps later Brooks also spun at the same corner, but avoided the barriers.
Lucchitti had his work cut out holding onto third with Schutte hunting him down.
The Arise Racing driver waited until the penultimate lap to make the deciding move, with a deep dive at Turn 1 paying off.
For the majority of the final stint, Talbot had kept Schumacher a second back until the death.
The Audi caught the rear of the Aston Martin on the penultimate lap and launched a last-ditch assault.
With Talbot unsettled going through the Turn 2-3 chicane, Schumacher pounced.
He had a big look on the inside of Turn 4, but Talbot chopped across and squeezed the Audi next to the fence as the fight for victory went down to the wire.
The aggressive move paid off as Talbot triumphed by a second over Schumacher, while Schutte completed the podium.
Paul Stokell and Matt Stoupas, plus Renae Gracie collected the other class honours on offer.
GT World Challenge Australia returns at The Bend on September 5-7.
Image: Volante Rosso
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