2026 GT World Challenge Australia preview

The 2026 GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS season is shaping up to be the most competitive yet, with a 17-car field of familiar faces and some eye-catching new combinations heading to the Liqui Moly GT Festival Phillip Island for the opening round on 27-29 March.

The Bathurst connection

If you watched the Bathurst 12 Hour in February, you’ll recognise plenty of names. Tony D’Alberto and Adrian Deitz were among the more impressive stories in their Wall Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3, qualifying sixth and working with factory driver Marco Mapelli to unlock more from the car before finishing 15th outright. That progress follows them directly into the GT World Challenge Australia season. Sergio Pires and Brendon Leitch also shared a car at Bathurst under the Tigani Motorsport banner, giving their brand new partnership valuable mileage before the championship even begins.

The title fight

The Pro-Am class looks ferociously competitive. Broc Feeney and Brad Schumacher return as reigning champions under the Melbourne Performance Centre banner in the #1 Kelso Electrical MPC Audi R8 LMS GT3, carrying the number plate that reflects their dramatic title win at Hampton Downs last year – snatched from Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte by just four points in the final race. Feeney arrives with momentum too, having qualified third overall at the Bathurst 12 Hour before his race ended cruelly on lap three when co-driver Christopher Mies hit a kangaroo. The Supercars star will be hungry to make amends.

Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte return for a third season with Arise Racing GT – again in the Ferrari 296 GT3 – hungry after falling just four points short of the GT World Challenge Australia crown last season. ARGT also enters a second Ferrari 296 GT3 for Jordan Love and Steve Wyatt, who finished seventh in last year’s championship and showed genuine pace with a pole position at Sandown.

Zagame Autosport also joins the Ferrari ranks with the #23 entry of Josh Buchan and Cameron Campbell. Buchan is a two-time TCR Australia champion who showed genuine pace on their GT World Challenge Australia debut in New Zealand last year, qualifying fourth overall.

But they face stiff opposition. Renee Gracie – the reigning Am Cup champion – has made a bold statement of intent, switching from Melbourne Performance Centre to her own OnlyFans Racing outfit, trading her Audi R8 LMS GT3 for a Ferrari 296 GT3, and recruiting Bathurst 1000 two-time winner Will Davison as co-driver. Davison brings more than 600 Supercars starts and 81 podiums to the partnership; it is a serious combination.

Supercars driver Ryan Wood and Steve Brooks also return, switching from MPC to the Wolfbrook Motorsport Team BRM Audi R8 LMS GT3. The Kiwi duo finished fourth in last year’s standings despite missing a round, and Wood arrives with extra mileage after claiming a Bronze class podium at the Bathurst 12 Hour with Ziggo Sport Tempesta by ARGT earlier this year.

Mark Rosser also returns in the #246 Team BRM Audi R8 LMS GT3, where regular co-driver Alex Peroni is sidelined by injury for Phillip Island. Supercars regular Thomas Randle steps in as a stand-in – not his first time in a GT car, having picked up a podium on his GT World Challenge Australia debut at Eastern Creek last year. With Peroni expected back later in the season, it is an entry worth watching.

Melbourne Performance Centre rounds out the Audi contingent with Darren Currie and Valentino Astuti stepping up to Pro-Am in the #2 entry, and Matthew Stoupas and Paul Stokell in the #24 KFC Audi in the Trophy class.

McLaren’s Australian comeback

Volante Rosso are expanding to a two-car operation, with team owner Josh Hunt and three-time Australian GT champion Geoff Emery pairing up in a McLaren 720S GT3 EVO in the Pro-Am class. Emery is one of the most successful Am drivers in the country and his return to the series adds further depth to an already stacked field. The team’s second entry sees Alex Gardner and Lee Stibbs campaign the familiar Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 in the Trophy class.

Volante Rosso’s McLaren entry carries extra significance beyond the team’s own expansion. It marks the return of McLaren to Australia’s top-tier GT series for the first time since 2020, when 59Racing ran the 720S GT3 in the Bathurst 12 Hour – that year’s Australian GT Championship season opener before the pandemic forced the rest of the season to be abandoned. That broader McLaren comeback gathered pace earlier this year when both Volante Rosso and Optimum Motorsport fielded 720S GT3s at the Bathurst 12 Hour. With the marque now represented in GT World Challenge Australia by Volante Ross, McLaren’s Australian story continues to be written.

Tigani Motorsport’s big moment

The New South Wales outfit is having a breakout year, now operating as the official Mercedes-AMG Performance Team in Australia. Leading the charge are proven race winners Jayden Ojeda and Paul Lucchitti in the #66 Mercedes-AMG GT3, GT4 champion Shane Smollen paired with rising star Oscar Targett in the #56, and Nathan Halstead alongside the experienced Luke Youlden in the #71 Porsche 911 GT3 R in the GT3 Trophy class. Sergio Pires and Brendon Leitch complete the Pro-Am trio in the #44 Mercedes-AMG GT3. Leitch won the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe Pro class in 2022 and the World Finals in 2024, and their Bathurst mileage together gives the pairing a head start despite Leitch stepping into the Mercedes-AMG for the first time. The sheer depth of their operation makes them a team to watch all season.

The season ahead

The championship kicks off at Phillip Island on 27-29 March, running six rounds across the country and wrapping up at the Adelaide Grand Prix Circuit in November, taking in The Bend, Queensland Raceway, Darwin and Sydney along the way. Each round features two 60-minute races across three classes: Pro-Am, Am, and GT3 Trophy – the latter reserved for older-specification GT3 cars.