Bates and O’Keeffe Fight Back from Adversity in Sunday GT Race

Bostik Australia Audi R8 drivers Tony Bates and Dylan O’Keeffe have recovered from an unfortunate penalty to finish fourth in the Pro-Am class and fifth outright in yesterday’s second one-hour Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia race at The Bend Motorsport Park.

Starting second on the grid, O’Keeffe was relegated to fifth position on the opening lap after the Audi lost acceleration off the rolling start.

“Off the start, the car bogged down and I didn’t get away as fast as I would have liked,” O’Keeffe said.

“Once I lost track position, it was hard to overtake – I felt our car was faster in the corners, but on the straights I couldn’t quite get close enough to set up for an overtaking move.

“I was stuck behind Paul Stokell for most of my stint, but I managed to get past him just before I came into the pits to hand the car over to Tony.”

Bates climbed aboard the Bostik Audi, but a pit release error saw him leaving his pit box marginally too early and he was handed a drive-through penalty by the officials.

“I had reasonable pace during my stint, so it was disappointing to be penalised,” Bates said.

“We were able to recover for a respectable result, but we should have been challenging for the podium again.

“Overall, I feel like it was a weekend where we showed glimpses of good form, but there were a couple of little issues that cost us better results.

“The good news is that we have a four-month break before the next round, which will give us an opportunity to fine-tune a few things and come out fighting strongly in the back half of the season.”

The next round of the GT World Challenge will be held at Sandown, 17-19 September.