MEDIA RELEASE/AMRS – Photo: Velocity Magazine

A well-judged strategy and a slice of good fortune have allowed Andrew Macpherson and Ben Porter to take out the 2022 Super GT 4 Hour at this weekend’s AMRS season opener at Sydney Motorsport Park in their Lamborghini Hurracan.
 
The decisive strategic decision came when John Goodacre crashed his MARC car at turn four just after the half-hour mark; while most teams elected to stay on track, Macpherson and Porter opted to pit for the first of their five-minute compulsory pit stops.
 
While the move initially cost them track position, they soon moved into the lead when their rivals had to pit under green flag conditions, and were dealt another stroke of luck when the Safety Car was deployed just after they had entered pit lane for their second stop.
 
“In last year’s four hour, we had some bad luck, but this year we had good luck,” Macpherson said.
 
“The car ran flawlessly all night and it was a very enjoyable race.”
 
“The timing of the second Safety Car certainly helped us,” Porter added.
 
“We were already in a good position but that gave us an even bigger advantage.”
 
Macpherson and Porter finished a minute clear of their nearest rivals Matt Stoupas and Yasser Shahin (Audi R8) while the David Crampton/Trent Harrison KTM X-Bow GT2 finished a stunning third outright, also winning the Trophy Class, thanks to a similar strategy option to Macpherson/Porter.
 
The Porsche class win went to the father and son team of Indiran and Duvashen Padayachee in fifth outright.
 
It was not a good evening for the defending winners Vince Muriti and Luke Youlden; after falling back with some mis-timed pit stops early in the race, a suspension failure forced them into retirement.
 
17-year-old Brad Vaughan clean-swept the Kumho V8 Classic Racing Series round in his Anderson Motorsport Ford FG Falcon, pulling clear of his rivals in all three races; Ray Hislop and Jim Pollicina completed the podium in each race, despite Hislop copping a penalty for jumping the start in the final.
 
Nash Morris made it a perfect score in the TA2 Muscle Car Series with three more race wins today, with Jett Johnson recording a quartet of second-place results to secure the runner-up position for the round. The final place on the podium was hotly contested, with honours ultimately going the way of Michael Coulter, who held out a hard-charging Josh Haynes and Dylan Thomas in the final.
 
By virtue of winning two of the three races, Noah Sands secured an overall round win on his debut in the Australian Formula 3 Championship. Sands fended off Mitch Neilson in the opening race, but fell back to fourth in race two after a slow start. However, the 17-year-old redeemed himself in race three, with some spectacular overtaking moves on Neilson and Trent Grubel to secure the round victory.
 
Stephen Chilby won the Stock Cars round ahead of Brett Mitchell and Robert Marchese, after polesitter James Burge was forced to sit out the weekend with a gearbox failure. George Kulig won the Thunder Sports round ahead of the double-entered Chilby and Cameron McGee, while Josh Dowell was victorious in Class B.
 
The second AMRS round will be held at The Bend Motorsport Park, 22-24 April.

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