BMW Team WRT Dominates Bathurst 12H

Photo: Gruppe C Photography/SRO

Team WRT stretched the fuel mileage of its BMW M4 GT3s to take a commanding 1-2 victory in Sunday’s Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour.

Kelvin van der Linde drove the No. 32 BMW to a 10.245-second win over the sister No. 46 entry of Raffaele Marciello, who got around the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Jules Gounon with 20 minutes to go.

Al three podium finishers completed the race with one less stop than their competitors.

It came in a final four-hour and 34-minute green flag run to the checkered flag that saw strategy play into the outcome of the Intercontinental GT Challenge season opener.

Van der Linde shared the winning BMW with his younger brother Sheldon and Brazilian ace Augusto Farfus, marking the first brother pairing to triumph overall at Mount Panorama since David and Geoff Brabham in the 1997 Bathurst 1000 Super Touring race.

The Belgian squad, which claimed its second Bathurst 12H win, gave BMW its maiden victory in the race’s GT3 era.

It came in a dominant run for the No. 32 BMW, which led for more than three-quarters of the race that proved both speed and efficiency.

WRT’s sister No. 46 BMW of Marciello, Charles Weerts and Valentino Rossi was second, while Gounon finished third in the car he shared with Luca Stolz and team owner/driver Kenny Habul, which bounced back from several early race incidents.

Both Gounon and Stolz were on fuel-savings mode in the closing stages of the race, which helped the 75 Express-run squad move up the order.

Marciello pressured Gounon in the closing 50 minutes, with both cars slightly held up by the No. 77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG of Lucas Auer, who had not yet made his final stop, before the BMW driver made a pass on Gounon through the grass.

Chaz Mostert, who passed Kelvin van der Linde for the lead with 37 minutes to go, settled for fourth in the No. 26 Arise Racing GT Ferrari 296 GT3 after making his final stop for fuel with 23 minute to go. Mostert set the race’s fastest lap in the process.

The No. 77 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG of Auer completed the top-five after dashing into the pits for fuel with six minutes to go, ahead of the No. 911 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Matt Campbell in sixth.

Heart of Racing by SPS Takes Class Honors in Attrition-Filled Race

Bronze class honors went to the No. 27 Heart of Racing Mercedes-AMG of Ross Gunn, Zach Robichon and Ian James, which finished seventh overall and ahead of the Pro-Am-winning No. 36 Arise GT Ferrari of Alessio Rovera, Jaxon Evans, Brad Schumacher and Elliott Schutte.

The No. 93 Wall Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 claimed back-to-back Silver class wins in the race, with drivers Aaron Dietz, Tony D’Alberto, Grant Denyer and Brendon Leitch.

GT4 class honors went to the No. 24 Method Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 of Josh Buchan, Jake Santalucia and Anthony Levitt, which finished 15 laps ahead of the No. 19 Team Nineteen Mercedes-AMG GT4.

The lone Invitational entry, the No. 50 Vantage Team KTM X-Bow GT2, came home 15th overall.

Australia’s international enduro featured several retirements.

The No. 888 GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG dropped out with just under five hours to go when Maxime Martin slammed into the wall at the exit of The Chase. The car was in contention for the win, having bounced back from penalties.

It came after a suspected mechanical failure for Ricardo Feller forced the No. 183 Jamec Racing/Team MPC Audi into the gravel trap and retirement in the seventh hour.

Feller was part of a thrilling three-wide battle for the lead on the first green flag lap of the race alongside Goetz and Maro Engel.

The race’s biggest accident came in the third hour when Habul and the No. 4 Grove Racing Mercedes-AMG of Stephen Grove made slight side-by-side contact at Skyline, resulting in Grove’s Bronze class entry slamming into the wall and nearly going over the barrier.

No further action was made by race control following the incident, which sent Grove to a hospital in Sydney with back injuries.

Ryan Sorensen was also evaluated at a hospital after his heavy crash in the No. 25 Method McLaren that collected the No. 44 Geyer Valmont Racing/Tigani Motorsport Audi, which returned to action after lengthy repairs.

The first retirement was the No. 222 Scott Taylor Motorsport Mercedes-AMG after Craig Lowndes made contact on the top of the mountain, resulting in left-rear driveshaft and wheel damage.

RESULTS: Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour