The Monochrome GT4 Australia Championship reached a thrilling conclusion over the weekend, with Hampton Downs Motorsport Park playing host to the final two qualifying sessions and races of a rollercoaster championship.

Heading into the final round, the Method Motorsports #24 McLaren duo of Tom Hayman and Max Geoghegan held a seven-point buffer over the #35 Miedecke Motorsports pair of George Miedecke and Rylan Gray, with a maximum of 25 points for each race, and a single point for each pole position on offer for the weekend.

That gap was immediately stretched to eight points, and then nine, as both Max Geoghegan and Tom Hayman topped their qualifying sessions, putting the #25 Method Motorsport McLaren on pole for both races of the weekend. The #35 Mustang would start race 1 from fourth place, and race 2 from the front row in second, with the possibility of a championship showdown on the cards.

Saturday’s Race 1 had barely gotten underway before the action kicked off, with multiple incidents at the first corner. A great start from Jarrod Hughes saw him slide the #87 JGI/Triple Eight Mercedes up the inside of Seton’s #71 Gomersall Motorsport Mustang, who turned down into the sweeping apex right hander. The pair made contact, spinning both cars and scattering the field behind them. Further down, a squeeze in the mid pack saw the #118 DA Campbell Transport Mustang and the #75 Tufflift Racing McLaren make contact, breaking both cars and forcing the retirement of two Silver-Am challengers.

A safety car to recover the stricken cars and debris then caused more chaos on the restart. Tom Hayman elected to hold the field behind his #25 Method Motorsport McLaren, but a number of cars, including the #10 Audi, launched at the “Safety Car Control line”, not the start-finish straight, which resulted in the #10 Audi of Greg Murphy leading the field.

While the early restart was a breach of the safety car regulations, the stewards decided not to penalise the offending cars due to a lack of clarity over the location of the control line, and the regular practice at the Hampton Downs circuit in other events.

Hayman began to work his way back to the front until he was caught up in a major incident which brought out another safety car moments later.

In an attempt to pass another car, Nash Morris dived to the inside at the dipper, but carried too much speed in his #210 TekworkX Porsche Cayman, and cannoned into the rear of the #25 Method Motorsport McLaren. This turned Hayman around, who was then hit by the #107 Racelab Toyota Supra, putting both cars into the pits for repairs and bringing out the safety car.

Morris was pinged a 15-second time penalty for the contact, but was able to continue the race without major impact.

The second restart saw Gaunt quickly round up Murphy at the head of the field, putting the #101 Keltic Racing Toyota into the lead while the pack squabbled behind. The #101 would lead into the pit sequence, giving circuit owner Tony Quinn a small buffer over the #35 Miedecke Motorsports Mustang, with George Miedecke looking to capitalise on the issues for the #25 Method Motorsport McLaren.

Miedecke made a simple move into turn two, putting the #35 Mustang comfortably into the lead of the race. Not even a late safety car – to recover the #66 Randall Racing BMW from the gravel – could cause trouble, as he managed the last-lap restart to win the race by just over two seconds. In the process, Miedecke put himself and Rylan Gray back into the lead of the GT4 Silver-Am championship, thanks in part to the sixth place finish in class for the #25 Method Motorsport McLaren.

Second place and winning Silver-Am was Tayler Bryant and Jeremy Gray – Rylan’s father – in the #67 JMG Racing Toyota, while third was the recovering #87 JGI/Triple Eight Mercedes of Jarrod Hughes and Summer Rintoule.

Fourth overall and winning the Am-class championship in the process was Jacob Lawrence, wrapping up the championship in the #32 Randall Racing BMW with a race to spare after his main rivals – the #777 Method Motorsport Porsche of Lillis and Callaghan – were involved in the lap one drama. Lawrence had to work hard for the race win though, holding off wildcard-entry Ryan Sorensen to the line to claim class honours by 0.3 of a second.

In the Silver-Am championship, despite getting tipped into a spin on the opening corner of the race, the #71 Gomersall Motorsport Mustang pair Aaron Seton and Jason Gomersall took out the championship with a 6th in class, after their two championship rivals were also involved in the first corner drama: The DA Campbell Transport Mustang was retired on the first corner after contact with the #75 McLaren, while the #9 GWR Australia Toyota retired a lap later in the pits with damage.

RACE 1 RESULTS >>>

While Silver-Am and Am-class championships were wrapped up, the battle for the Silver class championship was now six points in favour of the #35 Miedecke Motorsports pair of Gray and Miedecke. The equation was simple – for the #25 Method Motorsport pair of Hayman and Geoghegan to overhaul that deficit, they would have to win the last race of the season.

It was all set for a grandstand finish for the Monochrome GT4 Australia championship for the last race of the season. The two championship protagonists on the front row; #25 Method Motorsport McLaren from pole, #35 Miedecke Motorsports Mustang on the outside, in a winner-takes-all sprint.

It was the #35 Mustang that fired the first shot, wrapping around the outside of turn one to take the lead down the long straight, with Miedecke hugging the inside trying to defend. But Max Geoghegan pulled a great move around the outside of turn two, hanging on just long enough to hold the #25 McLaren to the inside for turn three, and regaining the lead back.

Geoghegan eked out a few car lengths, and the race settled. Due to the previous day’s result, the #35 Mustang would have to take an additional 15 seconds in the pits compared to the #25 McLaren, which put the Method Motorsports pair in prime position heading into the middle part of the race.

The pitstops proceeded without too much fuss – Geoghegan out, Hayman in; Miedecke out, Gray in – with the gap after the stops ballooning out to over 20 seconds. No-one else in the field was even close at this stage either; the closest car to the leading pair was the #87 JGI/Triple Eight Mercedes of Jarrod Hughes, a further five seconds back from Gray, but not threatening. And as the time ticked down and the laps ticked by, Gray could not make inroads into that 20-second margin.

But then, a Safety Car. The #635 Racelab Toyota Supra had expired on its way down to turn 2, coming to a stop on the infield just on the inside of the corner. With 12 minutes left, the gap for the lead of the race, and the Silver-class championship, was down to nothing.

With four minutes on the clock, the race restarted. Hayman got a great restart, stretching a car length-and-a-half away from the stalking #35 Mustang of Gray. But the Mustang had strength in a straight line, and a lap later, Gray was all over the rear bumper of the #25 McLaren heading into turn one, but not quite able to make a move. That seemed to be Gray’s strongest point, as on the penultimate lap, Hayman was forced to defend the inside line into turn one.

This opened the door for Gray to get a run into turn two, but some aggressive defending from Hayman kept the McLaren in front and the Mustang at bay. On the final lap, Hayman once again ran the defensive line into turn one, and then ran the extreme inside line on the way to turn two, forcing Gray to run the Mustang out wide. Gray couldn’t hold the wide line through the corner, and a bump was all he could manage on the rear of the #25 McLaren as Hayman held onto the lead.

Hayman brought the #25 Method Motorsport McLaren home to win the final race of the season by 0.336 of a second, taking the Monochrome GT4 Australia championship by a single point.

Hayman and Geoghegan took the honours, while the #35 Miedecke Motorsport Mustang of Gray and Miedecke came home second. Completing the podium was the #87 JGI/Triple Eight Mercedes of Rintoule and Hughes, who also wrapped up third in the championship.

It was a grandstand finish to wrap up what has been an enthralling year of GT4 competition on Australian and New Zealand shores.

RACE 2 RESULTS >>>

Feature image © SRO Motorsports Group