Manthey EMA came to down under to tackle the Bathurst 12 Hour with a structure as competent as the future FIA WEC program, and their start in the Intercontinental GT Challenge season was golden as the No. 912 Porsche 911 GT3R of Ayhançan Güven, Matt Campbell and Laurens Vanthoor being carried to a high profile performance despite a mid race penalty that was initially dealt the wrong way, but circumvented on pace alone to counter first rate efforts from WRT, GruppeM Racing, MPC and Triple Eight.
Sheldon van der Linde was incredibly competent in outsmarting the opposition at the start and build a short lead to capitalise from the pole position during the dark minutes. WRT had the No. 32 BMW controlling the early moments and eventually working with the No. 46 BMW to keep the opposition in check, in special the No. 888 Triple Eight Mercedes.
Ayahançan Güven then enjoyed some quality time in the lead with the No. 912 Manthey EMA Porsche from the second hour onwards and passing to Matt Campbell at the fourth hour to continue the dominance, keeping the No. 130 GruppeM Mercedes out of their view all the time, except when the Safety Car was in action.
The fourth hour had the WRT BMWs trailing the No. 912, at least until the No. 32 car was clattered by a cornered No. 56 Ginetta GT4, with the GT3 car almost clearing the wall on the way to the top of the mountain. Valentino Rossi tried to keep second place for the No. 46 WRT BMW for a long as possible but an off took him out of the place, allowing the No. 22 Wash It MPC Audi to go after the No. 912.
Halfway into the race, the rain decided to appear as a result of the dark and heavy clouds accumulating around Mount Panorama, but Manthey EMA had other things to worry about as a drive through penalty for unauthorized service below the minimum pit time hit the No. 912 Porsche, which tried to serve it under Safety Car condition, which not only isn’t allowed but also worsened their situation on track, as the No. 13 Phantom Porsche took the overall lead.
At that point, with the former Invitational class leader No. 702 Tekworkx IRC GT being towed after a crash from Paul Tracy, the order was so screwed up that the No. 911 Manthey EMA Porsche that was leading the GT3 Pro-Am Cup was in the overall top-5. The GT3 Pro Cup cars were back to the top positions but the rain came back near the seventh hour, and the race to change to rain tires basically threw the No. 912 back to the lead, cycling back and forth with the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes and the No. 13 Phantom Porsche until around the final hour, where another Safety Car period held the field.
At some moments, Jules Gounon was countering the 5 second gap to Campbell that was built due to traffic, but the fight for positions behind the No. 75 hurt their chances for the win, propelling the No. 22 Wash It MPC Audi to third, but the chasing pack was only able to watch the No. 912 Manthey EMA Porsche cross the line to confirm the impressive victory they were aiming for.
The No. 911 Manthey EMA Porsche repeated the feat of the GT3 Pro Cup car and won the GT3 Pro-Am Cup with the exact same consistency and pace advantage over the class rivals, featuring at times between the top class competitors.
The No. 93 Wall Racing Lamborghini came with the GT3 Silver Cup win and the No. 19 Team Nineteen Mercedes won the GT4 class against a competent debut from Chaz Mostert’s Method Motorsport, which had their new No. 230 McLaren Artura in second in class at the checkered flag.
In what was the most incident filled class of the field by far, the Invitational class was won by a battered No. 20 T2 IRC GT against an also crashed out No. 702 Tekowrkx IRC GT.
IGTC will move to Europe for the next round, as the 24 Hours of Nürburgring puts the Nordschleife in the SRO route for the first time on 1-2 June.
PHOTO: EMA Motorsport
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