David Gallagher was at Queensland Raceway last weekend with a camera and a voice recorder. What he brought back tells the story of one of GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS’s best rounds of the year — four drivers who opened up about injury, ambition, a historic win, and what it means to go for it when the moment comes.
Gracie and Davison make history in Race 1
The headline result of the weekend belonged to the #181 OnlyFans Racing Ferrari 296 GT3. Renee Gracie made the decisive move under braking after the safety car restart, passed Justin Tigani for the lead and handed over to Will Davison, who brought the car home for the team’s first GT World Challenge Australia victory. It was also the first time a female driver had won outright in the series.
Davison sat down with David afterwards and made no effort to hide how much the moment meant to him.
“She’s misunderstood, but she’s fucking determined.”
He spoke about Gracie’s journey, the programme she has built from scratch, and the pressure he put on himself not to let her down in the second stint.
Leitch goes for it — and comes out on top in Race 2
Sunday’s race was settled on the opening lap. Brendon Leitch made an assertive move around the outside at Turn 1, took the lead and never looked back, handing over to Sergio Pires with a comfortable buffer. Pires managed the second stint cleanly and the #44 Geyer Valmont Racing by Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 crossed the line just over a second clear of Ryan Wood and Steve Brooks.
When David caught up with Leitch after the finish, he was in no doubt about what had won it.
“I just absolutely went for it and was able to give the car to Sergio with a little bit of space.”
The victory lifted Leitch and Pires to the top of the championship standings heading into Darwin.
Peroni back in the car after months on the sidelines
Alex Peroni made his return to the series at Queensland Raceway after injury forced him to sit out the opening two rounds at Phillip Island and The Bend, circuits where he and Mark Rosser had shown strong pace the season before. The timing made it sting a little more, as he told David on Friday.
“It’s kind of doubly bad because Phillip Island and The Bend are two of our best tracks. So that kind of sucked and it hurt a little bit, but I’m feeling better now and it’s good to be back.”
He and Rosser finished fifth in both races as Peroni worked back into rhythm, with one result still on the list for both of them.
Ojeda sets his sights well beyond Australia
Jayden Ojeda arrived at Queensland Raceway fresh from a third-place finish at the Fuji 24 Hours with Craft-Bamboo Racing, juggling that with his Supercars commitments alongside PremiAir Racing. Two wins already this season with Paul Lucchitti in the #66 Move My Wheels by Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 have kept him firmly in championship contention, but when David sat down with him, it was clear his ambitions extend well beyond the Australian series.
“I want to do it all. I want to do all the big GT events across the world, not just here in Australia.”
Spa, the Nürburgring, the Daytona 24 Hours. He named them all, and explained why GT racing and Supercars are not competing paths but complementary ones.
Trophy Cup: Youlden and Halstead complete the perfect weekend
Luke Youlden and Nathan Halstead won the Trophy Cup class in both races aboard the #71 AED Consulting by Tigani Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R. In Race 1, Youlden made his decisive pass for the class lead with 20 minutes remaining and finished 10 seconds clear of Paul Stokell and Garry Higgon in the #24 KFC Team MPC Audi R8 LMS GT3, with pole-sitter Cameron Rees third in the #14 Volante Rosso Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3. Sunday’s class result was identical, with the same margin back to Stokell and Higgon and Rees completing the podium again.
The rest of the weekend
Ryan Wood and Steve Brooks set the pace on Friday in the #88 Wolfbrook Motorsport Team BRM Audi R8 LMS GT3, with the #181 Ferrari of Davison and Gracie consistently near the front across all three sessions.
Qualifying produced its own story, with Tigani Motorsport locking out pole for both races. Oscar Targett led a Tigani front row in Qualifying 1, then Justin Tigani — making his GT3 debut — claimed Race 2 pole by 0.042 seconds from Renee Gracie.
Race 1 report | Saturday photo gallery | Race 2 report | Sunday photo gallery
GT World Challenge Australia continues with the GT Festival Darwin, Rounds 7 and 8, from 24–26 July.
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