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Christopher Mies leads the way in Perth after opening practice
German Audi Sport ace Christopher Mies maybe debuting at CARCO.com.au Raceway, but he has finished on top in opening practice for Round 2 of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS.
Sharing the JAMEC Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Gen2 alongside Geoff Emery, Mies set a 53.777s to lead the sister Shannons Insurance entry from Audi Sport Customer Racing Australia of Liam Talbot and Max Hofer by 0.030s.
Jamie Whincup broke the Audi stranglehold at the top of the times to place third in the Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes-AMG GT3 he will share with Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim, just 0.283s off Mies’ lap.
Mercedes-AMG factory driver and West Australian Jordan Love was fourth in the Makita Mercedes-AMG GT3, pairing with Tony Bates making a welcome return to the category.
The second Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Prince Jefri Ibrahim and Richie Stanaway was fifth on a time of 54.222s.
Reigning dual Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS title holder Yasser Shahin partnered by Garnet Patterson in the EMA Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3R was sixth from Justin McMillan and Glenn Wood in the M Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Harrolds Volante Rosso Motorsport’s Ross Poulakis and Jayden Ojeda made a steady start in the latter’s first weekend in GT3 machinery to be eighth in their Mercedes.
Leader of Am Class was also ninth outright in the form of RAM Motorsport’s Michael Sheargold and Garth Walden in their Mercedes, while right behind is the KFC Audi of Matt Stoupas once again joined by Paul Stokell.
Brad Schumacher in Fuchs Audi was third in Am Class and 11th outright ahead of Mike Bailey and Brett Hobson in the GWR Australia Mercedes-AMG GT3, while Michael Kokkinos was a further 0.181s behind in the Launch Racing/MC Labour entry.
Ash Samadi rounded out the Am Class field in 14th ahead of Renee Gracie in the OnlyFans Audi R8 LMS GT3 Ultra making her racing return as the sole GT Trophy entry this round.
Mark Griffith only completed a lap in practice fielding the only GT4 entry this weekend in the Griffith Corporation/Daimler Trucks Brisbane Mercedes-GT4.
The next session for the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS is Practice 2 at 12:00pm AWST or 2:00pm AEST.