GT World Challenge Australia The Bend: Ojeda and Lucchitti take Race 2 as Tigani Motorsport sweeps the weekend

Jayden Ojeda and Paul Lucchitti won Race 2 of the GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS at The Bend Motorsport Park on Sunday, delivering the #66 Move My Wheels by Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 to a lights-to-flag victory and completing a dominant weekend sweep for the Tigani Motorsport operation.

First lap drama as Patterson spins

Ojeda led from pole, with Saturday’s race winner Brendon Leitch slotting into second aboard the #44 Geyer Valmont Racing by Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3, and reigning champion Broc Feeney close behind in the #1 Kelso Electrical MPC Audi R8 LMS GT3. The opening lap brought the only significant incident of the race when Garnet Patterson’s #666 Team BRM Audi R8 LMS GT3 made contact with another car. Patterson was spun around and eventually forced into the pits.

From there, the opening stint settled into a rhythm. Jayden Ojeda opened a small gap of around two seconds at the front, while Brendon Leitch, Broc Feeney, Thomas Randle, Ryan Wood and Oscar Targett remained tightly bunched behind him.

Pit stops shake up the order

The mandatory pit stops proved decisive. The #44 Tigano Mercedes, carrying 15 seconds of compensation time as Race 1 winners, dropped to seventh after Leitch handed over to Sergio Pires. Randle’s #268 Castrol Team BRM Audi R8 LMS GT3, carrying 10 seconds, fell to fourth as Mark Rosser rejoined. Brad Schumacher took over the wheel of the #1 Audi from Feeney and emerged in second place, just one second behind Paul Lucchitti, who had taken over from Ojeda in the lead. Steve Brooks, sharing the #88 Team BRM Wolfbrook Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 with Ryan Wood, slotted into third some ten seconds behind. Oscar Targett’s co-driver Shane Smollen in the #56 Kollosche AMG by Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 moved ahead of Mark Rosser in the pit lane, though Rosser wasted no time in making the pass back — and then pressed on to overtake Brooks for third.

Lucchitti holds off Schumacher’s late charge

With 15 minutes remaining, Schumacher began applying serious pressure to Lucchitti through the windy South Australian circuit. Running nose to tail and even drawing alongside after a Lucchitti mistake, Schumacher could not find a way through as the #66 Mercedes held firm. The duo crossed the line separated by just half a second, with Lucchitti and Ojeda bringing Tigani Motorsport its second victory of the weekend.

Rosser managed the gap behind to finish third in the #268 Castrol Team BRM Audi for he and Thomas Randle, nearly 20 seconds adrift of the front two. Steve Brooks and Ryan Wood took fourth in the #88 Team BRM Wolfbrook Motorsport Audi. Elliott Schutte pulled off a last-gasp move on the penultimate lap to steal fifth for the #26 ARGT Ferrari 296 GT3 shared with Jaxon Evans, demoting Smollen and Targett in the #56 Tigani Mercedes to sixth.

Trophy Class Honours to KFC Team MPC

In the GT3 Trophy class, Matthew Stoupas and Paul Stokell completed a clean sweep of the round in the #24 KFC Team MPC Audi R8 LMS GT3, finishing 12th overall.

Queensland Raceway next as championship battle tightens

GT World Challenge Australia now heads to Queensland Raceway for Round 3 on 12-14 June as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries GT Festival Queensland, where Feeney and Schumacher will defend a two-point lead over Ojeda and Lucchitti in the championship standings.

FULL RACE 2 RESULTS