From Quarantine to Bathurst Triumph

(Motorsport-Total.com) — Hit back on his favorite track: ADAC GT Masters Champion Christopher Mays put on a stunning display to Bathurst 1,000 spectators at Mount Panorama.

At the GT World Challenge (GTWC) in Australia, which was part of the support program, he and Yasir Shaheen took the first race victory with a stunning overtaking maneuver. Make Shaheen the GTWC Australia 2021 Champion.

He was a replacement for Shaheen’s regular teammate Garth Tander, who is focused on the main event this weekend. What makes the performance so impressive: Mays couldn’t lead a single practice session because he had to go into quarantine due to strict entry restrictions and could only leave the hotel on race day.

From quarantine to the top

In Race 1, Sahin took the lead from fifth on the grid from the start when there was a collision in front of him. He decided the first part of the 60-minute race. With success in GTWC Australia hampered, the Melbourne Performance Center’s Audi had to stand in the pits 15 seconds longer than the competition.

Mays, now doing his first lap in the Audi R8 LMS GT3, is back on the track behind the Audi Fraser Ross. A strong fight ensued before Mays took the lead on a highly unusual point six minutes from the end.

© Gary Graham

Yasser Shaheen won the GTWC Australia 2021 Zoom

“I tried laps previously to assess my strengths and weaknesses against Ross and kept putting pressure on him. When he made a little ‘cut-off’ mistake I tried my chance on an unusual point. I think he didn’t. I expected it. In the end it went well and we were able to win the race. , the 32-year-old told Motorsport-Total.com.

The challenge was even greater for the second race. Mays had to start from 15th because he missed qualifying due to quarantine. He broke into fifth in the space of four laps when the Safety Car stage crossed his path with all vehicles coming to a stop.

“It was really fun to go from behind to front and get in a lot of fights. Normally for Australia, that’s always been very fair,” said Mays. When the pit stop hit the handicap again, Shaheen had to start a race to catch up again. It reached third place overall. This time Fraser Ross met his teammate Liam Talbot.

Mercedes-AMG wins the GTWC World Award

Although it is located on the other side of the world, the Mount Panorama Circuit serves as a second home for Christopher Mays. Whenever the opportunity arises, the Audi factory driver goes to Australia. So in 2018 he made (at the same time too little) Great track record at Jabal Panorama employment. There are also two wins at Bathurst 12 Hours.

“There is no room for error here and you are always at your limit.”
Christopher Miss

“Since I first drove this road in 2011, I have been fascinated by it,” he said. “There is no room for error here and you are always on the fence. Because of the walls and the heat, you have a constant 165 to 180 beats per minute here. By comparison: in Europe you have 130 to 140 beats most roads.”

He also competed in the Audi RS 3 LMS at TCR Australia, which was also part of the Bathurst 1000 support program on six days of an action-packed racing week. Once again he was unable to participate in qualifying and also missed the first race. In the remaining two races, he placed fourth and seventh.

The final race for GTWC Australia also wrapped up the GTWC Worldwide GT3 Manufacturers. Mercedes-AMG won the championship, which included the results of all four GTWC series for drivers from the four categories, in 2021 with 17,372 points, followed by Lamborghini with 14,801 points and Audi Sport with 12,085 points.