Phillip Island Australian GT: Morcom wins Race 1 from last

The McLaren driver was excluded from yesterday’s qualifying session after failing the post-session weigh-in, which meant starting at the back of the 30-car grid for today’s opening 60-minute race.

However, a smart drive coupled with a timely Safety Car helped him take an unlikely victory against a star-studded field.

The first stint was key for Morcom. Having climbed to 10th on the road, he was in the perfect position to clear his compulsory timed pit-stop when the Safety Car appeared on 22 minutes in, jumping several spots thanks to his relatively short penalty time.

He was then essentially on the back of a group of amateur drivers, Morcom carefully picking his way through the likes of Tony Walls, Yasser Shahin, and Tim Miles on his way to a lead would hold until the finish.

Shahin, meanwhile, finished an even more unlikely second. The Lamborghini driver won big in the Safety Car lottery, jumping from 16th to second during the stops. He couldn’t hold off Morcom, but he did manage to pass Walls to make sure he still came home second.

Shane van Gisbergen and Klark Quinn finished third thanks to a spectacular stint by the Triple Eight V8s star. After a decent first half of the race by Quinn, which saw him running seventh when the Safety Car came out, van Giz popped out deeply mired in the midfield.

But the Kiwi charged his way through the field, storming past the Ferrari of Graeme Smythe and Tony D’Alberto with three minutes to go to steal the final spot on the podium.

Walls, meanwhile, slipped to fifth at the finish.

While the caution was perfectly timed for the likes of Morcom, Shahin, and Walls, it couldn’t have been worse for early leaders Nathan Antunes (McLaren) and Marco Bonanomi (Audi).

The Italian was hit hard by his penalty time, his advantage essentially turning into nothing before he handed over to amateur driver Greg Taylor for the second stint. That led to Taylor slipping down to 12th.

Antunes, meanwhile, bizarrely opted not to pit behind the Safety Car, handing over to Elliot Barbour on the very lap when the race went green again. That left the #61 entry outside the Top 20, Barbour ultimately coming home 21st.

Having led the first eight laps of the race, Garth Tander didn’t even have a chance to let his race be ruined by the Safety Car. The #2 Jamec Pem Audi suffered a right-rear puncture on Lap 9, taking it immediately out of contention.

Punctures were a common theme in the Jamec Pem garage, the sister car of DTM star Miguel Molina and Tony Bates also suffering from a flat tyre mid-way through the second stint.

Molina’s DTM rival Bruno Spengler didn’t even get to turn a lap, the MARC GT BMW stopping on Lap 1 with Morgan Haber behind the wheel. It got going again, but after four laps Haber returned to the pits and never reappeared on track.