Maxime Martin, Maro Engel and Mikael Grenier have won a dramatic – and dramatically shortened – Bathurst 12 Hour race.
Their Team GMR entry started from 29th on the grid after a series of problems during practice and qualifying, but the trio showed excellent pace throughout the race and when Martin was presented with the lead late in the race, he grabbed the opportunity and did not put a wheel wrong, winning by 1.0386s.
The race for the win was set up in the final hour, when the two Mercedes-AMGs of Chaz Mostert (STM) and Jayden Ojeda (Tigani) clashed at the exit of Turn 2. Both were out, and under safety car the leaders chose to pit over consecutive laps.
But the WRT BMW of Kelvin van der Linde did not, taking the lead about one metre ahead of the 75 Express Racing Mercedes-AMG of Jules Gounon. When the green flag flew the leaders clashed at the very first corner, losing ground and letting Martin through to the lead, giving all three drivers their first win down under.
“Starting the weekend I don’t think we expected to win. It was just patience,” said Martin after the race.
“We knew we would be in the game but we never expected that!” Grenier added. “We had something with the engine in qualifying but we had great strategy in the race.”
After so many attempts, Engel commented: “I have waited a long time for this and it is every bit as special as I thought it would be! Not as we planned, but in the end, we won the race.”
Second place went to Porsche, but possibly not the one that many observers might have fancied pre-race. From even further back on the grid in 30th, High Class Racing got some solid driving from Bronze driver Kerong Li, and co-drivers Dorian Boccolacci and Anders Fjordbach ran just behind the leading group, taking track position and holding it to the flag.
There was an epic battle for the final podium position, with 2025 winners WRT emerging from the struggle, Augusto Farfus, Raffaele Marciello and Valentino Rossi taking third, ahead of the Jamec Audi R8 GT3 Evo of former Supercars champion Will Brown/Christopher Haase/Brad Schumacher.
Valentino Rossi, Team WRT
Photo by: Daniel Kalisz / Getty Images
It was a great comeback from the WRT team, as the M4 was tagged by another car, damaging its left-front at the first corner of the race; it broke later in the race, prompting a black flag.
In fifth place was the second-best of the BMWs, the Team KRC M4 GT3 of Max Hesse, Maxime Oosten and Bronze driver Cunfan Ruan ahead of the Absolute Racing Porsche of Matt Campbell/Bastian Buus/Alessio Picariello. Gounon and co-drivers Luca Stolz and Kenny Habul took seventh from Ricardo Feller/Klaus Bachler/Lauren Heinrich in the Earl Bamber Motorsport Porsche.
The race was red-flagged for almost 56 minutes after Johannes Zelger, who had just been waved past the safety car, hit the wall at MacPhillamy Park, and then the Tsunami RT Porsche spun at Forrests Elbow after a tap from Kai Allen. Ralf Aron hit him at full speed in the race-leading Craft Bamboo Mercedes-AMG and the track was almost completely blocked, forcing the officials to interrupt the race.
The polesitting Mercedes-AMG was in contention until the seventh hour, when Thomas Randle made contact with another car and struck a wall, losing three laps. Mostert and Cam Waters hauled the car back into contention until the clash with Ojeda.
Not long afterwards Christopher Mies emerged shaken but unhurt after his HRT Racing Ford Mustang had a fully-grown kangaroo come through its windscreen at 250km/h, wrecking the car and showering its cabin – and Mies – with mashed marsupial. Mies was unhurt but had to take two showers to remove the remains of the animal.
After a steady build-up to the race, another contender, the Johor Motor Racing Chevrolet Corvette of Earl Bamber/Nicky Catsburg/Alexander Sims, climbed to the lead mid-race. In the 10th hour Bamber hit the wall at The Dipper when the suspension broke, and retired on the spot.
Track action at sunset
Photo by: Daniel Kalisz / Getty Images
The Pro Am Class winner was the GMR Mercedes-AMG of Dylan O’Keeffe, Brett Hobson and Garth Walden, in 13th outright.
The 111 Racing IRC GT of Darren Currie/Axle Donaldson/Daniel Studdert took Invitational Class honours (and 25th outright), while the sole GT4 starter, the Steven Aghakhani/Adrian Kunzle/Kevin Madsen Method Motorsport McLaren, took class honours (26th outright).
The Silver Class winner was the Volante Rosso McLaren of Marcos Flack/Ryan Gray/Bayley Hall/Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer, despite a spin by Gray. They finished 33rd.
The next round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge is the Nurburgring 24 Hours on 14-17 May.
We want to hear from you!
Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.
Take our survey
– The Autosport.com Team
Read the full article here