GT4 Australia Round 3

Queensland Raceway

Published on Wednesday, 17th of June 2026

Like round 2 at The Bend, Nathan and Jay had tested at QR a couple of weeks before the race weekend so we felt well prepared and subject to equitable BOP settings, ready for more success.

Unfortunately, despite a lot of lobbying from the BMW representatives in Germany to get our 'Balance of Performance' settings the same as, or at least similar to, those at The Bend, BMW wasn't so lucky this time. We knew it could be hard work for us unless the weather gave us a more level playing field.

This round also included a twilight race on Saturday evening, which was always going to spice things up.

McElrea Racing crew at Queensland Raceway 2026

McElrea Racing drivers at Queensland Raceway 2026

Jay Murray #7

Silver Class

Erik Pender

Shaun Simpson

P11

DNF

In the twilight race 1, Jay started from grid 11 and if conditions weren’t tricky enough, it also started to rain just after the start. While not wet enough to pit for wet tyres, it was a very greasy track surface which gave him the opportunity to use his car control and driving talent to compensate for a lack of power due to the BMW BOP settings.

He ran as high as 3rd eventually taking 6th. Given he got to 6th from grid 11, we were confident of an even better result in race 2 when starting from 8th on the grid. Unfortunately, two cars made contact in front of him at turn 6 on lap one, which lead to left front suspension damage, causing an early retirement.

Jay Murray #7 racing at Queensland Raceway 2026

Nathan Murray #5

Am Class

In race 1 Nathan had a strong start immediately battling the cars ahead, particularly the fellow Am drivers before they swapped with their Silver rated drivers for the second half of the race. Despite the darkness and damp conditions, he did a solid job to take 4th in Am.

In race 2 Nathan had another strong opening stint having some energetic battles, particularly during the last 15 minutes of the race, chasing down fellow Am driver, Cy Pearson in a Porsche.

Further proof of Nathan’s development is his fastest lap time of 1:15.60 in race 2 was only 0.025 of a second off the 3rd place Am driver, so an Am podium is on the horizon for him.

Nathan Murray #5 racing at Queensland Raceway 2026

Summary

Despite Jay’s misfortune in race 2 it was another productive weekend for the Morris/ Slatterys/ MR GT4 team at QR.

Next round is Darwin in late July.