Overview
- After the Queensland Raceway round, Brendon Leitch and Sergio Pires vaulted from fifth to first in the standings for Tigani Motorsport and now lead the championship with 85 points.
- The top seven driver combinations are separated by fewer than 20 points, which means a single qualifying error, on-track incident or post-race penalty can flip the title fight.
- Tigani’s Mercedes-AMG line-up is the current benchmark after winning three of the first four races, but SRO Balance of Performance changes have trimmed Mercedes’ fuel/weight settings and adjusted Ferrari and Audi parameters.
- Hidden Valley is new to the series and no teams have tested there, so limited Friday practice will be crucial for finding straight-line speed, cooling balance and tyre management on the circuit’s long straights.
- If organisers implement the reported BoP tweak to give the Ferrari 296 GT3 more straight-line speed, expect the competitive order and weekend strategies to shift and for teams that qualify well to gain the biggest advantage.