Bathurst 12 Hour: Ferrari out front as early leaders ruled out

Lowndes took over from Toni Vilander during the first round of stops, after the Finn endured an eventful opening stint. Having led for the first seven laps, a Safety Car restart caught Vilander out in two ones; firstly, he lost the lead on-track to Chaz Mostert in the MARC BMW just two corners after the race went green again, before being stung with a drive-through for weaving after the Safety Car had already dived into pitlane.

Despite the unnecessary tour of the lane, the #88 Ferrari worked its way back into the lead, taking over at the front again when Maro Engel pitted the #22 HTP Mercedes just after the two-and-a-half hour mark.

The #22 is still sitting in second, Baird currently behind the wheel after Engel’s opening stint. The gap blew out from six tenths to seven seconds when the #88 got to do its last stop during a caution, while the Mercedes pitted under green.

Todd Kelly is sitting third in the #24 Nissan GT-R, after Jann Mardenborough found himself in the lead in the back end of the stint when a couple of early contenders dropped out. The young Welshman was part of a thrilling three-way battle for the lead, holding off Engel and Lowndes before pitting right on two-and-a-half hours.

Steven Kane is currently fourth in the #17 Bentley, Greg Taylor in the #5 GT Motorsport Audi in fifth, and David Calvert-Jones in the Competition Motorsports Porsche in sixth, despite a run-in with Chris Mies (#75 Jamec Pem Audi) at the last restart.

Two cars that have led the race are now completely out of contention. Mostert put in a sublime first stint in the MARC BMW, leading after that pass on Vilander on Lap 14. The Supercars regular stretched the lead to over 20s before pitting and handing over the amateur driver Max Twigg on Lap 33, but by the two-hour mark the car was back in the pits with front-right damage after Twigg brushed the wall, losing 20 laps to the leaders.

The #911 Walkinshaw Porsche then emerged as a genuine contender during the second hour of the race, taking over at the front after the MARC BMW made its first routine stop. Earl Bamber replaced Laurens Vanthoor behind the wheel, and promptly made contact with a GT4 car and damaged the front-right. It was quickly decided that the damage was too substantial, the leading Porsche ruled out on the spot.

There were some big names that hit trouble even earlier than that, the first being Maxime Soulet in the #8 Bentley. The big Continental GT3 had just eased past Steve Richards in the #60 SRM BMW to grab third on Lap 2, when a right-rear puncture saw Soulet tag the wall. The resulting stop dropped the car all the way back to 40th.

The #23 factory Nissan is also six laps off the lead, a vibration in the gearbox sparking a lengthy stint in the garage just a handful of laps into the race.

The Jamec Pem Audi squad is having a shocker, which all started when Frank Stippler hit the wall hard at The Dipper on Lap 7. The stranded #74 Jamec Pem gave a number of the following cars a fright, Chris Pither actually grazing the back of the car in the Hobson Nissan.

Even before the contact with the Nissan the #74’s day was done, the recovery leading to the first Safety Car period of the race.

Then, right on the three-hour mark, the #75 car hit trouble as well. Running sixth, Mies was spun by Calvert-Jones at the most recent restart, before being collected by Leanne Tander in one of the MARC V8 racers. The German went on to give Calvert-Jones a verbal spray to the TV crew, suggested the US-based Australian is out of his depth.

There have also been issues for the lead BMW Team SRM car, a steering vibration causing issues for Marco Wittmann during the second stint, the M6 plummeting from the pointy end to over a lap off the pace. 

The Miedecke Stone Aston Martin hit one of the more unusual stumbling blocks early in the race, George Miedecke forced to pit after becoming ill in the car. Running fifth, the fumes from the #911 Porsche were too much for Miedecke while trundling around behind the Safety Car right at the start of the race, leading to an unscheduled driver swap.

Miedecke jumped back in the car, only to then crash at Turn 1 just after the three-hour mark and spark a fourth Safety Car.