Not even starting in last place could stop Arise Racing GT from claiming the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia championship at the iconic Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst.
It capped off a remarkable debut season for the team, with Chaz Mostert and Liam Talbot claiming the Pro-Am Sprint title from their more experienced rivals.
Arise Racing GT team owner, Laurence Escalante, was on-hand to watch the team finish its maiden season in thrilling fashion across the weekend’s two races.
Mostert’s Supercars rival Will Brown helped keep the championship alive until the final race of the season by winning Saturday’s 40-minute race.
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Image credit: Race Project
However, after being disqualified from qualifying and being relegated to the rear of the grid for Sunday’s race, Mostert stormed through the field before handing over to Talbot to bring the #1 Ferrari home.
A third place finish in Race Two was enough to secure the title, Talbot’s second consecutive Pro-Am crown.
“It is pretty special to start a team and get this result,” Mostert said.
The second Arise Racing GT entry of Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte was denied a win, despite crossing the line first in Race Two, after being handed a five-second penalty post-race for an unsafe pitstop release.
Image credit: Race Project
Unfortunately, due to the close nature of the race, with the leading pack separated by only a second, this penalty dropped the #8 Ferrari to fourth place. Still, it was good enough to clinch third place in the driver’s standings, further enhancing Arise Racing GT’s résumé in its first season.
“This year’s been unreal for us, it’s been full of excitement, stress, it’s had everything,” said Arise Racing’s commercial manager, Jake Klarich.
“The team came together at the start of the year, a lot of us hadn’t worked together before and the pressure was on to get to the first round. We made it, we had some good results and continued that form.
“I think the best thing for us is everyone is excited to be here. We’re stoked with the results we’ve had so far and we’re really looking forward to next season.”
Image credit: Race Project
As Klarich referenced, Arise Racing GT was only formed shortly before the start of the season, after Escalante was offered two examples of Ferrari’s new 296 GT3 racers by the factory.
As a sponsor of the Italian marque’s Formula One team, through his successful Virtual Gaming World business, Escalante was given special priority to race the Ferraris.
It set the tone for the team and the year, with the well-presented, Lance East Exotic-sponosred cars standing out amid a sea of Audi and Mercedes-AMG rivals.
Image credit: Race Project
Even so, the team’s one-two finish at the first round of the championship was a stunning surprise and put the rest of the field on notice that Arise Racing GT meant business.
The 2025 Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia series officially begins at Phillip Island on April 4-6 but before then Arise Racing GT has a new, much bigger challenge to take on – the 2025 Bathurst 12 Hour.
The team missed this showpiece event at the start of this season as it was preparing to focus on the championship events, but it will have its two Ferraris on the grid next February.
