WRT started the Intercontinental GT Challenge season in the most positive manner possible, with the BMW M4 GT3 Evo showing that the updates were worth it, and combined with the Belgian team’s strategy prowess, the win for the No. 32 entry of Augusto Farfus, Kelvin and Sheldon van der Linde, with the No. 46 car of Valentino Rossi, Charles Weerts and Raffaele Marciello coming right behind in a fuel mileage driven 1-2.
The No. 77 CRAFT Bamboo Mercedes was the early leader after a three wide battle on Lap 1 between Maximilian Götz, Maro Engel and Augusto Farfus, but Chaz Mostert appeared as the extra character in the story as the No. 26 Arise Ferrari was racking up slipstream passes, being propelled to the lead at sunrise.
It was needed just more than one hour for the first Safety Car of the race, as the No. 26 and the No. 77 were battling and the Mercedes made an outside move, only to be blocked by the Ferrari, entering rear first in the gravel trap. Some masterclass timing and the usual pitwork gave the top two positions to the WRT BMWs, with the No. 32 leading the No. 46 while the No. 888 GMR Mercedes was chasing them both.
A monster shunt by the No. 25 Method McLaren that collected the No. 44 Tigani Audi in the process was one of the triggers for another Safety Car, along with a crashed No. 222 STM Mercedes.
In between the mess, the No. 911 Absolute Porsche took the lead, and while the top places were in a status quo, the middle and the back of the field were still a bit too lively, as the No. 4 Grove Mercedes was halfway from clearing the walls at Skyline due to contact with the No. 75 75 Express Mercedes.
With both WRT BMWs in second and third and more cars coming closer, the No. 32 held the pace to isolate the leaders, allowing the No. 46 to chase the No. 911. If the overtake wasn’t coming on track, WRT made it happen in the pits as the Belgian team opted again for mileage stints and outsmarted Absolute Racing. When the driver change came for both BMWs on five and a half hours, the No. 32 swapped positions with the No. 46 and Sheldon van der Linde opened a significant gap.
The BMW 1-2 was kept until the early moments of the eighth hour, when the No. 46 had a stop and go penalty due to overtake under Safety Car condition, leaving the No. 32 in the lead by itself with the immediate contenders right at the back, like the No. 77 CRAFT Bamboo Mercedes and the No. 26 Arise Ferrari. In between this, the No. 888 GMR Mercedes had a big crash when leaving The Chase, as understeer and a trouble rejoin to track sent Mercedes newcomer Maxime Martin to the wall.
The other teams were being quite creative on the strategies to put the No. 32 out of its fuel saving train, but with the strategies not exactly being fit to end the race, the No. 26 and No. 77 had to push the hardest possible to have the least losses when they complete the final stop. Chaz Mostert worked his way past Kelvin van der Linde to take the lead, only to go to the final stop a lap later, dropping down to fifth.
With no more threat around, the No. 32 WRT BMW was brought to the finish by Kelvin van der Linde to get the win, and with the No. 77 CRAFT Bamboo having to pit with five minutes to go, the No. 46 WRT BMW got second place and completed the team and manufacturer 1-2, while the No. 75 75 Express Mercedes completed the podium.
Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour - Race results
The No. 27 Heart of Racing by SPS Mercedes won the Bronze Cup, just behind the Pro Cup top 6, and the No. 36 Arise Ferrari was behind it to conquer the Pro-Am Cup. The No. 93 Wall Racing Lamborghini got Silver Cup honors. The No. 24 Method McLaren was the best GT4 while the No. 50 KTM Vintage X-BOW completed the race as the sole Invitational entry.
Next in the IGTC calendar will be the 48 hour marathon that has the Nürburgring 24 Hours on 21 and 22 June and then the 24 Hours of Spa on 28 and 29 June.
PHOTO: Gruppe C Photography
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