Brad Schumacher and Tim Slade place second in GT World Challenge Australia enduro at the Mount

Bathurst driver Brad Schumacher and his team-mate Tim Slade led a majority of Sunday's GT World Challenge Australia three-hour enduro in their Audi R8 LMS Ultra.

Schumacher started brilliantly from pole and Slade pushed hard in his stints too.

It took the #888 Triple Eight Mercedes-AMG of Broc Feeney and Prince Jefri Ibrahim until 29:06 left on the clock to snatch the lead away from the Bathurst team.

Even then, Slade continued to chase and clocked his fastest lap - a 2:04.7667 - on the 78^th and final lap of the race.

So while Feeney and Ibrahim enjoyed the win and had driven well to get it, Schumacher and Slade were still proud to finish in second behind them.

"You know what? We're just a little team from Bathurst punching against the heavyweights and I think we've done a fantastic job to come in second in this endurance race," Schumacher said.

"Triple Eight Race Engineering are a team with multi millions of dollars to throw into their racing and Prince Jefri Ibrahim is prince of Malaysia, so the budget they've got to throw into this is huge.

"Whereas we have to work to a small budget, we don't have as much time to test and do all the things that those guys can do.

"So for us to finish this weekend with a pole position and also a second position, yeah I'm thrilled, as a team owner and driver. It was Schumacher Motorsport's first ever enduro, so it was no small feat to do what we did as a team - honestly everyone did their job flawlessly."

Slade, who also battles the Triple Eight team as a full-time member of the Supercars series, reiterated the same point.

"It's pretty cool. That's [Triple Eight] the best team in Australia with how ever many people they have and you can literally see Brad's workshop from here," he said.

"It's the first time I've driven the car, it's the first time for Brad and Schumacher Motorsport as an outright Pro-Am team and the first enduro for the team as well.

"So it's pretty cool to be able to achieve this first up."

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Having been a star of Saturday qualifying, it was Schumacher who had the job of starting Sunday's race at the Bathurst International.

Though it was raining as he set off, Schumacher showed his skill behind the wheel in his opening 15-lap stint.

By the time he handed over to Slade, he'd opened up a 9.09 seconds advantage over Ibrahim.

The battle between professionals Slade and Feeney was a good one, the Triple Eight young gun lapping faster in the Mercedes.

Though the Audi was quicker across the top of the Mount, the Mercedes held the speed advantage on the way up and on the way down.

As Slade explained, some of that had to do with the balance of performance regulations.

"At the 12 Hour the Audi got five kilos Saturday to Sunday and we got another 10 kilos for this weekend so it definitely makes it tougher," he said.

Still, when Schumacher jumped in for his second stint with around 95 minutes remaining he again showed he is one of Australia's finest amateur GT drivers.

He had the lead back thanks to a move around the outside of the Ross Poulakis Mercedes at Skyline, then worked on building his advantage on a now dry track.

His best lap was a 2:07.5178, Schumacher then handing back to Slade with just over an hour remaining.

His lead stood at 3.3 seconds with 45 to go and Slade managed to fight off one attempted Feeney passing move at Griffins Bend.

For some 15 minutes Slade held on as Feeney pressured on his rear bumper, but finally the #888 took the lead through Hell Corner.

Feeney went on to finish 11.076 seconds clear of Slade, but it was still an almighty effort from the entire Schumacher Motorsport team.

"I gave it my all," Slade said.

"I only did a handful of laps testing at Phillip Island last week for the first time and Bathurst is Bathurst - you can drive all day at Phillip Island and you come here and it's just a completely different beast.

"Me not getting many laps in practice, I got two go laps, then it's a 10-minute qualifying session and straight into the race. There is quite an art to getting speed out of these cars.

"I was happy with myself in the end because every single lap I was just learning and my last lap was my fastest lap. Yeah it came a bit late and whether we would've had the speed for them anyway I don't think.

"Brad did a stellar job all weekend as per usual, he ticked every box."

Schumacher who was praised up and down pit lane for his efforts across the three-day event, was still able to offer a smile and enjoy the podium champagne too.

"I feel I drove well as a driver and Tim drove well, we were a safe set of hands," he said.

"The car came back the same way it went out there for practice one - what more could I ask for?"

In placing second in Sunday's enduro, Schumacher also finished second in the Motorsport Australia Endurance Championship.

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