It is said the mountain always delivers when it comes to Bathurst 12 Hour, and the amount of drama that culminated in the win for the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG GT3 was simply off the charts and even off the track for a moment, but Jules Gounon, Luca Stolz and Kenny Habul delivered under the pressure of the No. 912 Manthey EMA Porsche and the No. 999 GruppeM Mercedes.
The start was quite the processional and cautious thing as no one would take risks during the dawn, so the No. 999 GruppeM Mercedes was able to keep the lead without problems, while the No. 888 Supercheap Mercedes kept a close follow from second.
The lead would be kept with the No. 999 until a pit stop out of sequence with two hours of racing threw it off the top and down to fourth, with the No. 888 taking over the first place while having the No. 912 Manthey EMA Porsche hot on its rear wing and the No. 46 WRT Audi in third place, completely isolated in the order.
As it occurs every year in the mountain, any place misjudgement in any place would be an invitation for a crash or a scare, which eliminated early a number of cars, including the No. 74 Audi and the No. 4 Grove Porsche.
Near the end of the fourth hour, the first non-Mercedes race leader appeared in the No. 912 Manthey EMA Porsche, with Thomas Preining keeping the aging 991.2-spec 911 in good shape again the No. 888 Supercheap Mercedes and the No. 46 WRT BMW while the rest of the GT3 Pro Cup cars were on a close distance, with the exception of the No. 77 CRAFT Bamboo Mercedes which had an extra stop compared to the competition. Next to take over the lead was the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes as Jules Gounon continued the good work done by Luca Stolz, which created some cushion to the No. 912 before the halfway mark.
After a lengthy neutralization due to a crashed No. 222 STM Mercedes, the No. 999 GruppeM Mercedes charged hard to second place thanks to Maro Engel prevailing over Thomas Preining in the No. 912, and the good momentum even allowed Engel to close down on Jules Gounon on the No. 75, and with the lead changing due to their different pit cycles, the No. 999 drivers had to make the most out of the clean air.
It was supposed to be a straightforward end of race for the leading No. 999 GruppeM Mercedes, but at the penultimate hour the modem of the data logger failed, meaning that the car needed to pit to fix or replace it. The team smartly lost some time into the final stop to do the job, with it barely costing the lead as the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes jumped ahead, but Maro Engel kept the No. 999 close enough to engage in battle.
Engel prepared some attacks on Jules Gounon but the room wasn’t there, at least until the German find a gap, gets the door shout and pushes the No. 75 off track, which gave him a drive through penalty. While the No. 75 was back on the lead, the No. 912 was approaching fast, and only 2 seconds separated them.
The No. 912 did close down but the gains stopped coming with 10 minutes to go, and the No. 999 discounted most of the 14 seconds from third place, but victory still went for the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes as Gounon kept it 0.927 seconds of Matt Campbell and 1.418 seconds of third placed Maro Engel.
Bathurst 12 Hour - Race results
An all-Audi battle dictated the GT3 Pro-Am Cup, with the No. 65 MPC Audi prevailing over the No. 777 The Bend MPC Audi after a late brake problem affected the latter. The No. 10 Myland IMS Audi had a bit more room to breathe as it conquered the GT3 Silver Cup as the No. 44 Valmont Mercedes crashed with 3 hours of racing, allowing the No. 10 to reign supreme in the class for the remaining hours.
In three weeks the action returns as the full season teams cross the ocean to go to South Africa, as the Kyalami 9 Hour will be the next stop, with this being the first time that the African round isn’t held at the end of the year.
PHOTO: SRO
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