Stephen and Brenton Grove are gearing up for this weekend’s season-opening round of Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS.

The father and son duo will step into the #4 Grove Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R at Phillip Island over March 12-14 as the revamped Australian GT series kicks off.

Last week the Melbourne-based outfit revealed the livery its brand-new 2021 GT3 R would run in the Pro-Am class, featuring traditional Grove Group branding and backing from Tasmanian gin company Dasher + Fisher.

While the team has tested since taking delivery of the new car, it will be the first time Porsche’s latest GT3 machine has run in anger on Australian soil.

GT cars will hit the track for the first time on Friday for a pair of 30-minute practice sessions, followed by a two-stage qualifying later in the day.

A single one-hour race is the GT headline on each of the next two days, with Saturday’s Race 1 taking place at 12:20 AEDT and Race 2 on Sunday scheduled for 11:50 AEDT.

Both will be broadcast live and free on channel 7mate in Australia.

“I’m really excited to finally get behind the wheel of our new GT3 R and start the GTWCA season,” said Stephen.

“Phillip Island is a local track for us, one that we’ve done a lot of laps at so I’m hanging out to see how the car is there.”

The Groves will spend much of Thursday on-track testing at Phillip Island ahead of the event.