We take you trackside and into the paddock at Sydney Motorsport Park for a AAA look at all the action from the GT World Challenge Australia…
The recent return of the GT World Challenge Australia to Sydney Motorsport Park was anything but boring. Situated on the fringe of the city’s western suburbs, the venue played host to the second round of the GT World Challenge Australia on the first weekend of May. While wet conditions hampered Friday’s practice sessions, crowds swelled over Saturday and Sunday to watch a colourful array of Audis, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches and Mercedes take to the track under lights.
Arise Racing’s Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte completed a clean sweep with the GT Ferrari 296 GT3 taking out top honours in both Race One and Race Two. Evans is juggling his GT World Challenge Australia duties with a full-time seat driving for Brad Jones Racing in the Supercars championship. “I think it’s quite easy to balance between the two series that I race at the moment, you know, one being in the supercars,” he told MAXIM. “It’s a very different car to what we’re driving here and it’s a very different style of racing, you know this Ferrari is very aero dependent, has a lot of grip and quite expensive to rub panels on.”
The Arise Racing driver, who is currently leading the Pro-Am driver’s championship alongside Schutte, has witnessed firsthand the GT3 category’s growth among Aussie motorsport fans. “First of all, it’s the exotic cars,” he said. “People see Porsches, Ferraris and BMWs on the road in day-to-day life and they are a luxury vehicle, but to see them in a race performance mode is a cool side to see. People are also able to walk up and have a conversation and ask questions and things like that. Just with your general admission you can be close to the action.”
The Kiwi native previously raced in various series around Europe, including the European Le Mans series and the Porsche Carrera Cup France, where he took out the victory in 2020. “The level of competition is forever improving in Australia and it’s slowly starting to catch up with what’s going on around the rest of the world at GT racing,” Jaxon said.
Fellow Arise Racing driver Jordan Love is possibly the busiest driver on the grid and is currently balancing the Aussie series with both the Asian GT World Challenge and the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup. After Sydney, Love will fly over to Indonesia for a street race in Mandalika, then on to Europe for the 24 Hours of Spa in Belgium with Johor Motorsports Racing. “It’s nice to be back racing in Australia but getting the best of both worlds still racing overseas,” he said. “The competition in Europe and Asia is not necessarily at a higher level, it’s just the depth is a fair bit higher. You go to somewhere like Spa 24 Hours and you have 76 cars on the track, but where Australia has come, especially in the world of GT racing over the last few years, is impressive.”
Renee Gracie, who vaulted to national fame a decade ago as the country’s only female V8 supercar driver, has now begun a whole new chapter in motorsport after joining the GT World Challenge Australia in 2023. But Gracie’s journey from supercars to OnlyFans stardom and then back into motorsport was less a sprint race and more an uphill battle. “It’s great to be here, but you know, I started my return back into motorsport back in 2021 and I didn’t get in the car until 2023,” she explained. “So, it was like many years of lots of no’s, lots of ignored phone calls, ignored emails and people just not returning my calls, people laughing at me.”
Ultimately, it was the GT3 category as an Am driver where Gracie found her new home in motorsport. “They welcomed me with open arms,” Gracie said of her entry into the GT World Challenge Australia. “It’s a good racing program and I’m just another competitor on the field out of everyone that’s here. I feel like my purpose now, essentially on my return, is that no female should ever have to work this hard to get into motorsport.”
The Queenslander has reunited with Melbourne Performance Centre this season in the same Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2 that she drove to a maiden trophy class victory. Gracie has even combined her two passions after inking a major sponsorship deal with OnlyFans, whose logo is proudly wrapped around her Audi R8. “I feel like racing is obviously my number one thing right now, but I’m so lucky to combine both OnlyFans and my motor sport together,” she added. “The beauty of the GT World Challenge Australia is that age is no limit. The doors actually aren’t closed for, you know, someone in their 30s who is a strong Am driver – if anything, I’m actually quite valuable and that’s the exciting thing about it.”
The motorsport trailblazer is now comfortably leading the Am Driver’s championship after two first place finishes at Sydney Motorsport Park. For Gracie, whose complicated experience racing in V8 supercars came to an end when she was barely 22, this new chapter in the GT World Challenge Australia feels like a form of liberation. “I feel like this time round it’s like I’ve got the opportunity in my hands and I’m in control and I feel like that means the most: I’m on my own course of life and no-one else is in control of it.”
Catch every GT World Challenge Australia event live and free on 7mate and 7plus
By REILLY SULLIVAN
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