Bathurst Post-Race Notebook

Photo: Gruppe C Photography/SRO

***BMW claimed its third Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour win but first in the GT3 era of the event. John Bowe, Garry Holt and Paul Morris won the event in 2010 in a BMW 335i touring car, with Holt and Morris having teamed with Craig Baird to win in 2007, also in the same model.

***It marked WRT’s second Bathurst win after its 2018 triumph in the red-flag shortened event with an Audi R8 LMS GT3.

***The Belgian squad remains undefeated in competition this year, following its overall victories in the Michelin 24H Dubai and 6H Abu Dhabi last month. The Vincent Vosse-led team did not take part in the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

***Kelvin van der Linde, who claimed victory in only his second start as a BMW factory driver, paid tribute to co-driver Augusto Farfus, a driver he “looked up to for many years” growing up.

***Kelvin said: “I was watching him on TV when he was racing touring cars in 2007/2008 for BMW and he was one of my heroes growing up. To now share a car with him and win a race with him is really, really special.”

***Kelvin joined younger brother Sheldon in becoming only the second-ever brother pairing to have won at Mount Panorama in the same car. David and Geoff Brabham claimed victory in the 1997 Bathurst 1000 Super Touring race at the wheel of a factory-backed BMW 320i.

***Chaz Mostert set the fastest lap, a 2:02.274, on the race’s 299th lap of 306-lap contest. Mostert briefly took the lead from Kelvin van der Linde in the final hour before having to pit his No. 26 Arise Racing GT Ferrari 296 GT3 for fuel.

***Mostert finished fourth in the car’s Bathurst 12H debut.

***Valentino Rossi, who finished runner-up in the No. 46 WRT BMW M4 GT3 that he shared with Raffaele Marciello and Charles Weerts, has vowed to come back for another attempt at victory, in what marked the MotoGP legend’s most competitive endurance outing to date.

***Rossi said: “I want to come back because for me, it’s good to come one time a year in Australia because I like this place a lot. It’s the perfect way to start the season because the track is fantastic and it’s really difficult. I hope in the next year more factory drivers and cars can come.”

***The only setback for the No. 46 BMW came in the seventh hour when Rossi was deemed to have passed under a yellow, resulting in a drive-through penalty that Weerts had to later serve.

***BMW has taken an early lead in the Intercontinental GT Challenge points standings following its 1-2 finish, with the German manufacturer holding an 18-point lead over Mercedes-AMG, with Ferrari third, a further 18 points back.

***While Kelvin and Sheldon van der Linde and Augusto Farfus top the drivers’ championship, Kenny Habul leads the Independent Cup, following his third place overall finish in his No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

***Jules Gounon earned his fifth consecutive overall podium finish, dating back to his first overall win with Bentley Team M-Sport in 2020. It was also the fourth straight top-three finish for his SunEnergy1 Racing co-drivers Habul and Luca Stolz, who won with Gounon in 2022 and 2023 and finished second last year.

***Gounon said: “Somehow we always get a bit lucky here. This morning I saw a albino-white kangaroo and I was like, ‘Ah, I think we might get lucky today.'”

***While the race had eight safety car periods, the final four hours and 34 minutes ran without caution, marking the longest green flag run time since the 2023 event.

***GruppeM Racing’s race came to an early end with four hours and 52 minutes to go when Maxime Martin lost control of his No. 888 Mercedes-AMG and slammed into the left-side wall exiting The Chase, ending in retirement.

***Martin said: “I’m very disappointed and frustrated. I touched a curb at the wrong spot which sent me into the wall. We were fighting, saving as much fuel as we could and playing the strategy to stay in the lead pack which was working perfectly. I’m very sorry for the team. It’s a shame to finish like this and difficult to swallow. We’ll go forward and come back stronger.”

***Audi’s chances of a potential final Bathurst 12H overall podium with the R8 LMS GT3 Evo II was dashed in Hour 7 when Ricaro Feller sustained a mechanical issue with the left-front of the car, forcing the Swiss driver into the gravel trap at The Chase.

***It came after the No. 183 Jamec Racing/Team MPC Audi bounced back from a left-front puncture with Liam Talbot at the wheel in the second hour after a brief encounter with Habul, and Feller getting sandwiched in a three-wide battle for the lead on the first green flag lap of the race in pitch darkness.

***The No. 14 Volante Rosso Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 impressed throughout the race and appeared to be en route to a Silver class win until a clutch problem with less than three hours to go relegated the race’s second youngest-ever driver lineup to third in class.

***A refueling issue on the No. 91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R of Laurin Heinrich during the car’s final stop dashed hopes of Heinrich challenging for a potential Pro-Am class win. “It was a good result, crossing the line P10 overall and finishing second in Pro-Am, although I felt our performance deserved more but endurance racing is never easy,” said Heinrich.

***Seventeen of the 22 starters finished this year’s race.

***The event reported 51,372 spectators over the three-day event, marking the second-largest attended Bathurst 12 Hour ever.

***Next up for IGTC competitors is the Nürburgring 24, which takes place on June 21-22, one week prior to the third leg of the season, the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, on June 28-29.