Morcom wins after stunning comeback drive

Nathan Morcom produced an impressive drive from the back of the grid to win the opening Australian GT Championship race at Phillip Island.

The McLaren driver managed to scythe his way through the field having been forced to start from 27th following an exclusion from qualifying when officials deemed his 650S GT3 to be underweight.

Morcom wasted little time in the race climbing to 10th when the pit stop window opened shortly after a Safety Car period caused by Peter Rullo’s stranded Lamborghini on lap 15.

When racing resumed Morcom stormed from seventh to third before chasing down and then passing Yasser Shahin (Lamborghini) and Tony Walls (McLaren).

Once in front Morcom eased to victory taking the chequered flag from Yasser Shahin, who started from 23rd spot.

The South Australian was 16th at the time of the pit stops but emerged in second once he returned from the pit lane.

A charging drive from Shane van Gisbergen in the second half of the race saw him claim the final place on the podium.

The Kiwi took over the car outside of the top 10 from Klark Quinn, who ran in the top three before the pit stops.

Maranello Motorsport enjoyed a strong showing with its #80 Ferrari piloted by Tony D’Alberto/Graeme Smyth coming home in fourth.

Tony Walls, who led for a spell after the pits stops, brought his Objective Racing McLaren 650S home in fifth ahead of the Dean Canto/Andrew Taplin Lamborghini.

Ricky Capo produced a faultless drive in his BMW Z4 to claim seventh, with Roger Lago (Lamborghini) eighth and George Miedecke (Aston Martin) in ninth.

The BMW M6 GT3 of Steven Richards and Max Twigg completed the top 10.

The race began with pole-sitter Garth Tander leading the early laps in the #2 Jamec Pem Racing Audi R8 before a puncture hit on lap 10 with the Holden Racing Team star holding a lead of more than two seconds.

This handed Nathan Antunes the lead in the Tekno McLaren from Marco Bonanomi.

Antunes appeared to be in the box seat to take out the race but a decision to pit a lap after the Safety Car was recalled proved pivotal, dropping him to 21st position.

A lengthy compulsory pit stop time saw the Bonanomi/Greg Taylor Audi drop to 12th.

Jamec Pem Racing’s sister entry of Miguel Molina and Tony Bates encountered a difficult race after being hit with a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release.

The car then suffered a left rear puncture later in the race which demoted him to 28th position.

It proved to be a challenging day for the Audi runners with the Supabarn Supermarkets entry of Marcus Marshall/James Koundouris picking up a puncture with three minutes of the race remaining.

MARC GT’s maiden GT3 race ended in disappointment as the Morgan Haber/Bruno Spengler M6 GT3 stopped on track in the early stages.

Result: Australian GT Championship Race 1

1	DPO	Nathan Morcom (Qld)	McLaren 650S GT3	38	01:01:17.1757
2	The Bend Motorsport	Yasser Shahin (SA)	Lamborghini Gallardo	38	01:01:18.8442
3	Darrell Lea	K.Quinn/S.Van Gisbergen	McLaren 650S GT3	38	01:01:25.3902
4	Maranello Motorsport	T.D’Alberto/G.Smythe	Ferrari 458 GT3	38	01:01:28.5185
5	Objective Racing	Tony Walls (Qld)	McLaren 6505 GT3	38	01:01:36.3336
6	Taplin Real Estate	A.Taplin/D.Canto	Lamborghini Gallardo	38	01:01:38.4122
7	Modena Engineering	Ricky Capo (Vic)	BMW Z4 GT3	38	01:01:38.5721
8	JBS Australia	Roger Lago (Qld)	Lamborghini R-EX	38	01:02:02.0833
9	Miedecke Motor Group	A.Miedecke/G.Miedecke	Aston Martin Vantage	38	01:02:04.9552
10	SR Motorsport	S.Richards/M.Twigg	BMW M6 GT3	38	01:02:12.8686
11	Darrell Lea	T.Quinn/D.Gaunt	Aston Martin Vantage	38	01:02:19.8053
12	GT Motorsport	G.Taylor/M.Bonanomi	Audi R8 LMS	38	01:02:27.0463
13	Walkinshaw GT3	J.Martin/A.Tebb	Porsche 911 GT3-R	38	01:02:33.6097
14	Bondi Wholefoods	Ash Samadi (Vic)	Mercedes AMG SLS-GT3	38	01:02:47.8168
15	Eggleston Motorsport	P.Hackett/D.Storey	Mercedes AMG SLS-GT3	37	01:01:19.0795
16	JAMEC PEM Racing	S.McLaughlin/G.Tander	Audi R8 LMS	37	01:01:21.6055
17	Scott Taylor Motorsport	S.Taylor/C.Baird	Mercedes AMG SLS-GT3	37	01:01:34.5911
18	McLaren Melbourne	G.Denyer/M.Kingsley	McLaren 650s GT3	37	01:01:38.3083
19	AMAC Motorsport	A.McPherson/B.Shiels	Porsche 997 GT-R	37	01:01:43.0198
20	Interlloy M Motorsport	J.McMillan/G.Wood	Lamborghini R-EX	37	01:01:43.4979
21	Beechwood / SLR / Buildmap	N.Antunes/E.Barbour	McLaren 650S GT3	37	01:01:52.8481
22	Fastway Couriers	S.Ellingham/T.Miles	Audi R8 Ultra	37	01:01:59.5641
23	Supabarn Supermarkets	J.Koundouris/M.Marshall	Audi R8 LMS	37	01:02:02.2775
24	Maranello Motorsport	A.Deitz/C.McConville	Ferrari 458 GT3	37	01:02:39.1204
25	Maranello Motorsport	L.Talbot/J.Fouracre	Audi R8 LMS Ultra	36	01:01:28.0306
26	Maranello Motorsport	Peter Edwards (Vic)	Ferrari 488 GT3	36	01:01:59.1328
27	Performance West Motorsport	Peter Rullo (WA)	Lamborghini Gallardo	33	01:02:12.8796
DNF	JAMEC PEM Racing	M.Molina/T.Bates	Audi R8LMS	27	45:31.3968
DNF	MARC GT	Morgan Haber (Qld)	BMW AG M6 GT3	4	10:22.2019