For the second year running the father and son combo of Indiran and Duvashen Padayachee has won the Porsche class at the AMRS Super GT 4 Hour, while the RAM Motorsport entry of Garth Walden and Michael Sheargold placed fourth in their Mercedes AMG GT3. 

In a true testament or the family nature of the GWR team, it was in fact a RAM Motorsport owned Porsche that the Padayachee’s competed in after a practice one incident caused major damage to the front end of the Porsche that the duo had originally planned to race. 

“It was very strange, we will have to look at the data from the car. I was still just warming up the brakes and tyres so I want pushing. The car suddenly snapped out of control in the braking zone for turn two, it was a very sudden accident,” said Indiran. 

“I’m so grateful to Michael for lending and trusting us with his car so we could complete the event.”

Both of the GWR entries made the top 10 shootout early on Saturday afternoon, with Garth Walden putting the Mercedes on to provisional pole until the final car in the shootout pushed the Mercedes parking to second on the grid. Duvashen Padayachee was given the task of qualifying the Porsche, and was able to place in seventh, an improvement on their provisional placing of eighth after the initial qualifying period. 

Strategy was as critical as ever in the 4 Hour affair, with almost every team running a different strategy and two safety car periods throwing carefully laid plans in to dispute. The GWR stable stuck to their planned strategy across the event, with the team maximising their fuel windows and making as few stops as possible. 

At the halfway point GWR ran first and second with the Mercedes leading the Porsche. Unfortunately the team could not catch the luck of a well timed safety car like some of their competitors were able to and as a result finished fourth and fifth. The results still marked a fantastic event for the team with the Mercedes duo only in their second event with the car and the Padayachee’s getting just one practice session in their replacement Porsche. 

“We were using this as an opportunity to further our understanding of the Mercedes and for me to keep improving my pace behind the wheel and so to also walk away with a top five result is awesome,” said Sheargold.

“Our goal was to back up from our Porsche class win with another one and while we certainly didn’t have the smoothest event we were able to accomplish that,” said Duvashen. 

“It’s a testament to the whole GWR team, not only to bring the car to the track in time for us to get out there for practice three, but to put the setup together so well in a short period of time. They really are the best team out there.”

All four of the drivers that competed for GWR in the 4 Hour will have a busy year with Walden and Sheargold competing together in Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia while Duvashen and Indiran Padayachee will share a car in Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup.