McLaren 720S GT3 takes victory in Melbourne

The McLaren 720S GT3 scored pole position and a memorable victory on its first ever race in customer hands during the opening round of the Australian GT Championship at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne, Australia.

Newly-launched McLaren customer team 59Racing enjoyed strong results in both the GT3 and GT4 categories, racing as part of the support package for the opening round of the 2019 Formula One World Championship.

The 720S GT3 made its customer team debut at the iconic Melbourne street circuit, driven by Australian GT regular Fraser Ross.

The experience of the Melbourne local, combined with the strengths of the newly-developed 720S GT3 were evident as he claimed P2 in the first qualifying session and by the second qualifying session secured the first ever pole position for the car.

The first of the weekend's racing action saw Ross in a three-way battle for the lead throughout the opening laps of the 25-minute sprint race. A bold move in the latter stages of the race saw Ross take the lead and then gradually extend the gap to the chasing pack, eventually crossing the line with a 2.2-second lead to record the historic debut victory for the team and for the McLaren 720S GT3. Building on this success, the second race saw further silverware as Ross steered the 720S GT3 to a hard-fought P2 finish, and second podium of the weekend.

The 570S GT4 of 59Racing also enjoyed a strong weekend, driven by Ryan Simpson. Making his first ever race start in a McLaren, Simpson narrowly missed out on GT4 class victory in the opening race, crossing the line in P2. From here, the 31-year old went on to improve this result with three victories in the remaining races of the weekend.