Round 3 of the Shannons SpeedSeries at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit celebrated the 60^th anniversary of the Ford Mustang, setting a new event attendance record with 17,869 patrons over the course of the weekend.

Accompanying the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia and Trico Trans Am series for the first time this season was Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS championship, complimented by the highly anticipated Australian debut of Monochrome GT4.

Shannons announced its partnership with Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia in the days leading into Round 3, that will see Shannons logos adorning the front and rear panels of all entries for season 2024.

Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge and First Focus Radical Cup Australia also made their maiden appearances at a Shannons SpeedSeries event for 2024.

The Shannons Super Rig was positioned in prime location opposite the start line on the Gardner Straight offering fans one of the best vantage points around the track. Neighbouring the Super Rig was a large and curated display of Ford Mustangs as far as the eye could see.

Supercheap Auto TCR Australia

Honda Civic driver Brad Harris claimed a sensational round victory winning two races on Sunday.

Second generation racers Ben Bargwanna and Clay Richards completed the round podium, with Shannons Insurance proudly supporting Richards for the Phillip Island event.

Richards secured third place overall, consistently featuring within the top-five despite handling and car setup troubles hampering his performance.

“It was definitely a weekend full of ups and downs, but it was great to come away with a podium.” Said Richards"

“Dad [Steven] was on it all weekend to try and make the car faster. Massive thanks to all our supporters, especially to Shannons Insurance and Carl Cox Motorsport for making this weekend possible.”

Harris was first across the line in Race 2, however he was slapped with a post-race time penalty for a start line infringement. His team however successfully appealed the decision, reinstating him on pole for the finale where he shared the front row with Richards.

In the final race, Richards led the opening lap thanks to a fast start. However, his pace wasn’t a match for Harris. Richards eventually fell back to P5 as he fended off challenges from Bargwanna, a recovering pair in Josh Buchan Tony D’Alberto.

Harris was unstoppable in the lead, cruising home with a 1.5s to Bargwanna in P2, Buchan third.

Buchan suffered a rollercoaster weekend, a drama in Race 2 forced him into the pits and out of the points. Zac Soutar faced adversity when his team quickly changed a clutch on his Audi RS3 LMS between Races 2 and 3, putting him on the back foot for the finale.

A clean and consistent weekend for Bargwanna and netted a podium result and trophies for their efforts.

Bargwanna emerged from Round 3 the series points leader with 300. Soutar drops one position to second, but only 7-points adrift of Bargwanna. Buchan sits third, with Richards fourth.

Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS

Audi pairing Tim Miles and Brendon Leitch emerged victorious from the opening round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia at Phillip Island, winning the second and final heat of the weekend following a thrilling battle with fellow Audi pilot, Brad Schumacher.

Arise Racing and its pair of Ferrari 296 GT3s were hot favourites heading into the event, and the hype proved accurate as teammates Chas Mostert and defending Australian GT champion, Liam Talbot won Race 1 on Saturday. Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte backed up the effort to make it a Ferrari 1-2, with Schumacher and co-driver Will Brown in third.

Marcel Zalloua and Sergio Peres finished first of the AM class cars.

The race was overshadowed by a massive shunt at the final turn, where Ben Schoots lost control of his Mercedes AMG GT3 spearing into the tyre wall on driver’s right. The incident triggered a Red Flag at the 52-minute mark of the race.

A brilliant strategy and pace in Race 2 saw the Audis of Miles and Schumacher dicing for the win in the closing stages of the race, following the compulsory driver change pitstops.

Schumacher sized up Miles for a lead challenge on the penultimate lap of the race until Schumacher lost control of the rear of his Audi at the Southern Loop, spearing him into the gravel trap and losing P2 to the Paul Lucchitti / Jayden Ojeda Mercedes.

Talbot was hampered by electrical gremlins and a subsequent spin, also at the Southern Loop, after inheriting his Ferrari from Mostert. He was almost able to sneak past Schumacher for the final step of the podium, before settling for P4.

Ash Samadi won AM class in his Audi, ahead of GT racing stalwart Tony Bates.

Monochrome GT4 Australia

Back-to-back victories for George Miedecke and Rylan Gray earned them victory in the inaugural Monochrome GT4 Australia event at Phillip Island, racing a brand new GT4 Ford Mustang, the only one of its kind in the country.

Despite the car only arriving on Australian shores the Monday leading into the event, it proved too strong for the quality field of 18-cars.

Method Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 pairing of Marcos Flack and Tom Hayman were the nearest competition, especially in Race 2 Sunday morning. The McLaren looked ominous in an early race battle for the lead with the Mustang, with the McLaren snatching the lap record of 1m 34.43s in the process. Despite the promise, the McLaren settled for P2 in race and weekend.

Jake Camilleri capped his weekend off in third position, ahead of Nathan Morcom and Jesse Bryan.

Tim Leahey won AM Cup racing his BMW M4 GT4, holding off John Bowe and Jacob Lawrence also driving a BMW M4 GT4 G82. Mark Griffith finished third in class.

Lachlan Mineeff and Shane Smollen meanwhile won Pro-AM Cup sharing a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4, although their weekend wasn’t without incident after receiving a hit in the rear from Antonio Astuti at pit entry for the compulsory stop in Race 1.

The enduring Porsche was lightly patched for the final race Sunday and was able to win, albeit with cosmetic wounds at tail.

Trico Trans Am

Supercars ace James Golding took home the silverware in Round 3 of Trico Trans Am, controlling the third and final race of the weekend to secure the round honours from Race 2 winner, Queenslander Nash Morris.

Golding capitalised on the mechanical misfortune of reigning series winner, James Moffat, who was on track to claim round victory until a failing power steering system forced him to drop down the order.

Prepared by Garry Rogers Motorsport, the Golding Mustang was a clear winner in the 28-minute final race of the weekend, managing his tyres well on the newly resurfaced track to lead home Todd Hazelwood who enjoyed his strongest result of the event.

Morris meanwhile had a battle on his hands, with Elliot Barbour threatening to steal P3 in his Pioneer supported Chevrolet Camaro.

Hazelwood’s late-weekend pace netted P3 for the round, just ahead of Jordan Boys.

Moffat’s mechanical dramas resulted in losing his lead in the 2024 series standings, with Golding jumping ahead with 359 points. Moffat sits P2, with Boys in third.

Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia

West Australian Caleb Sumich secured victory in a thrilling opening round of the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia, despite not crossing the line first in any of the three races over the weekend.

Consistently in the hunt for the lead, Sumich found himself on top of the podium in the finale after a post-race penalty of five-seconds was handed to Oscar Targett for a race restart procedure infringement.

With the top-three tied for the weekend on 132-points, Sumich was deemed the winner on a countback. Brock Gilchrist had a similar weekend to Sumich featuring at the head of the field, remaining consistent throughout heats to finish P3, with Targett capping off his weekend third.

Hamish Fitzsimmons meanwhile was the winner of the Jim Richards Endurance Trophy Race, rounding out the weekend in fourth overall.

Daniel Stutterd was the clear winner in the Pro-AM class racing his TekworkX Motorsport prepared Porsche, Ramu Farrell and Lachlan Harburg completing the podium.

In Class B, for older specification GT3 Cup Porsches running 3.8L engines as opposed to 4.0L in the rest of the field, Jacque Jarjo was the clear winner.

First Focus Radical Cup Australia

Radical SR3 XXR racer, Peter Paddon, was the man atop the charts in the second and final race of the weekend in the opening round of the First Focus Radical Cup Australia, finishing the weekend equal for points with Race 1 winner, Cooper Cutts, and inheriting the silverware on a countback.

To say that Cutts was dominant in Race 1 is an understatement – he utterly decimated the field to win the race by 42s. So strong was Cutts’ performance, himself and second place Pedder were the only two cars on the lead lap at the conclusion of the race.

Ash Samadi, doing double duties for the weekend competing in both Radicals and Australian GTs, crossed the line third.

Race 2, and the tables began to be turned on Cutts as Paddon capitalised on his pole position thanks it being awarded to the driver’s second fastest lap of qualifying the day earlier.

Paddon timed his compulsory pit stop to perfection, electing to stay out for an extra lap over his rivals and benefitted from a well-timed Safety Car.

This meant he stayed in front despite a spirited effort from Cutts.

Cutt’s race then took a turn for the worse as a moment at Turn 4 dented his efforts capturing and passing Paddon for the lead.