Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS round three got underway at The Bend Motorsport Park where the only Porsche team in the filed Grove Motorsport had a difficult day on Saturday due the the extreme weather conditions and wrong choice of tyres.

Taking place at the spectacular South Australian circuit located near Tailem Bend, round three and four was set be the most high profile yet for the series. Father and son duo Stephen and Brenton Grove consolidated their position in the GTWC Australia championship last time out at Bathurst and have had time in-between rounds to make improvements. The team carried out a recent test day at The Bend with their Porsche 911 GT3 R, putting the Groves in a good place to continue taking the fight to their Audi and Mercedes rivals.

Following two rounds of competition at Phillip Island and Mount Panorama, the Grove pair sat fourth in the Pro-Am standings aboard the Grove Group/Dasher + Fisher entry heading into this weekends races

Mixed conditions left drivers facing a big decision pre-race – whether to start on slicks or wet weather tyres. For Grove Racing the decisions not once put twice would leave the team finishing the race in twelfth place, first the team opted to start the race on wets but it stayed dry so the decision was made early to pit and change back to slicks only for the weather conditions to change again and the South Australian circuit was soon coved in extreme heavy rain.

The heavy rain forced the deployment of the Safety Car midway through the first stint that did allow the filed to close up on the leaders but with more rain poring down it was hard for anyone to make up positions and in the end it was Brett Hobson in the Nissan GT-R who dominated a weather-affected race at The Bend Motorsport Park. After a dominant second stint Hobson then finished a healthy 51 seconds clear of the field. The Shahin/Garth Tander Audi recovered from a tough first stint on wet tyres to finish second, Tander passing Dylan O’Keeffe’s Audi with five minutes to go. O’Keeffe, who is subbing for Chaz Mostert alongside Tony Bates this weekend, finished third. The decisions early on cost Grove Racing and there was nothing they could do but watch the race slip away from them crossing the line in twelfth place.