Race report
Endurance Bathurst 12 Hour
Bathurst 12 Hour: WRT Audi wins as huge crash mars finish
Robin Frijns, Stuart Leonard, and Dries Vanthoor are the 2018 Bathurst 12 Hour champions, after the race was declared early due to a massive final-stint crash.
Andrew van Leeuwen
Edited: Feb 4, 2018, 8:44 AM
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Frijns led the field during a final hour economy test, building to a tense showdown with Jamie Whincup and Earl Bamber.
However a huge crash between Audi driver Ash Walsh and Mercedes driver John Martin with 20 minutes to go led to the race ultimately being suspended, the clock ticking down to zero as crews were parked on the front straight waiting for a restart.
As a result the #37 WRT Audi was declared the winner, ahead of the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes (Whincup/Tristan Vautier/Kenny Habul/Raffiele Marciello).
The first of the key moments of the final quarter of the race came just half an hour in, when the scrap for third turned into a melee at Forrest's Elbow.
It started when Chaz Mostert (#43 Schnitzer BMW) got into the back of Estre in the #991 Craft-Bamboo Porsche on the way out of the dipper. Then, as the pair tried to squeeze past a Class B Porsche on the run onto Conrod, more contact led to Mostert wiping out Kane in the #17 Bentley, who was a few metres down the road.
Estre managed to sneak through largely unscathed, diving straight into the pits to hand over to Earl Bamber. Kane and Mostert also got back to the garage, but were left well and truly out of contention for victory, while the #42 Class B Porsche was left hanging out of the wall.
With the crashed Porsche cleaned up, the race restarted with 2h20m to go. David Fumaneli led the field in the #55 Strakka Mercedes, but ran wide and immediately handed it over to Markus Winkelhock in the #74 Audi.
In keeping with the theme of the day, the green running was short-lived. The 14th Safety Car period quickly followed when the #777 Buik Lamborghini lost a wheel, Fumaneli pitting and handing second over to Frijns.
The race restarted with two hours left to run, the two Audis bolting as Whincup held on in the Mercedes.
But just as that was shaping up to be the main battle pack, the game changed again. This time it was heartbreak for the leading Audi, Winklehock left stranded on The Mountain due to a drivetrain issue with a little over 90 minutes to go.
His race was over, and the resulting Safety Car saw Frijns, Whincup, and Bamber head to pits with a stint and a bit to go.
Frederic Makowiecki took over the lead when the race restarted with 80 minutes left to run, but needing to pit again. The likes of Frijns, Whincup, and Bamber, however, were close to being able to run to the end.
With 45 minutes left, Makowiecki made that stop, leaving Frijns out front. Fifteen minutes later it was still Frijns leading Whincup and Bamber, with the race having boiled down to a test of economy.
The final twist in the tale came with 20 minutes to go. Having clashed with a backmarker, Ash Walsh was left stranded across the track on the run to McPhillamy. He was then hit at full-speed by John Martin who arrived unsighted, causing the 16th Safety Car period of the day.
The caution eased fuel concerns, but even cruising around behind Safety Car the leading crews were worried. The intrigue deepened with 11 minutes to go when the red flag was flown, drivers advised to pull up on the grid and teams told not to work on the cars.
While the cars stopped, the clock kept ticking. In the end it ran out before the race could be restarted.
Behind the top two, the #540 Black Swan Racing Porsche (Marc Lieb/Luca Stolz/Jeroen Bleekemolen/Tim Pappas) won the Pro-Am class with third outright. Like the #12 Competition Porsche behind it, an outright victory could have been on the table had the race run its course.
The #991 and #911 entries capped off a remarkable day for Porsche with fifth and sixth respectively.
Walsh's Audi was declared the winner of the Am class despite the nasty crash.
In terms of the classes, it was the #4 Grove Motorsport Porsche that triumphed in Class B. Despite a pair of spins and a drive-through penalty, the Ben Barker/Stephen Grove/Brenton Grove had almost three laps up its sleeve by the end.
Class C went the way of the Boat Works BMW M4 GT4, Tony Longhurst/Aaron Seton/Matt Brabham over three laps clear of the M Motosport KTM driven by Glen Wood/Trent Harrison/Cody Hill.
The #91 MARC II completed a top-to-bottom domination of the Invitational class.
Bathurst 12 Hour Results
Cla#ClassDriver/CodriverCarLapsGap 1 37 PRO 
Robin Frijns
Dries Vanthoor
Stuart Leonard
Alessio Rovera Audi R8 LMS 271 2 75 PRO Raffaele Marciello
Kenny Habul
Tristan Vautier
Jamie Whincup Mercedes AMG GT3 271 1.5369 3 540 PRO-AM 
Marc Lieb
Jeroen Bleekemolen
Tim Pappas
Luca Stolz Porsche 911 GT3 R 271 30.6599 4 12 PRO-AM Patrick Long
David Calvert-Jones
Alex Davison
Matt Campbell Porsche 991 GT3R 271 32.0599 5 991 PRO 
Earl Bamber
Kevin Estre
Laurens Vanthoor
Hisashi Kunie
Kimihiro Yashiro Porsche 911 GT3 R 271 57.5656 6 911 PRO Romain Dumas
Earl Bamber
Dirk Werner
Alfred Renauer
Dennis Olsen Porsche 911 271 1'20.2840 7 55 PRO-AM Nick Leventis
Lewis Williamson
David Fumanelli
Cameron Waters Mercedes AMG GT GT3 271 1'29.9376 8 29 PRO-AM Ivan Capelli
Ryan Millier
Dean Canto
Jim Manolios Lamborghini Hurracan 270 1 lap 9 100 PRO Timo Glock
Philipp Eng
Steven Richards BMW M6 GT3 270 1 lap 10 69 AM Theo Koundouris
Tim Slade
Duvashen Padayachee
Stepan Krumilov
James Koundouris Audi R8 LMS 269 2 laps 11 47 PRO-AM Scott McLaughlin
Andrew Watson
Fraser Ross
Alexander West McLaren 650s GT3 269 2 laps 12 8 PRO-AM Craig Baird
Tony D'Alberto
Max Twigg
Daniel Keilwitz Mercedes AMG GT3 268 3 laps 13 32 PRO-AM Roger Lago
David Russell
Steven Owen Lamborghini Gallardo R-EX 267 4 laps 14 39 PRO-AM 
Pedro Lamy
Paul Dalla Lana
Mathias Lauda
Will Davison Audi R8 LMS 267 4 laps 15 19 PRO-AM Mark Griffith
Liam Talbot
David Reynolds
John Martin Mercedes GT 266 5 laps 16 17 PRO Jules Gounon
Steven Kane
Guy Smith Bentley Continental GT3 265 6 laps 17 4 B Ben Barker
Stephen Grove
Brenton Grove Porsche GT3 Cup 260 11 laps 18 91 I 
Keith Kassulke
Rod Salmon
Will Brown MARC II V8 258 13 laps 19 85 B Charles Espenlaub
Charles Putman
Adam Christodoulou
Joe Foster Porsche 911 GT3-Cup 257 14 laps 20 21 B Danny Stutterd
Sam Fillmore
Andrew Fawcet Porsche 911 256 15 laps 21 6 AM Hadrian Morrall
Richard Gartner
David Wall
John Bowe Lamborghini Gallardo 256 15 laps 22 30 C Matt Brabham
Aaron Seton
Tony Longhurst BMW M4 250 21 laps 23 77 C Lindsay Kearns
Colby Cowham
Richard Verburg
Charlie Robinson Ginetta G55 246 25 laps 24 49 C Glen Wood
Cody Hill
Tent Harrison KTM X-Bow GT4 245 26 laps 25 93 I Grant Denyer
Garry Jacobson
Tyler Everingham MARC Mazda V8 244 27 laps 26 33 Frank Stippler
Dimitri Parhofer
Rémi Terrail
Dirg Parhofer
Isaac Tutumlu Lopez MARC Mazda V8 243 28 laps 27 22 PRO Garth Tander
Kelvin van der Linde
Fredrick Vervisch Audi R8 LMS 241 30 laps 28 56 PRO Alvaro Parente
Maximillian Buhk
Maximillian Goetz Mercedes AMG GT GT3 237 34 laps 29 13 C Cameron Lawrence
Kuno Wittmer
Daren Jorgensen
Brett Strom BMW M4 GT4 188 83 laps 30 44 C Dean Grant
Xavier West
Cameron Hill BMW M4 GT4 162 109 laps 31 66 I Alex Riberas
Edward Lewis Brauner
Ben Schoots
Adam Macrow
Michael Caine Dodge Viper 162 109 laps 32 65 I Jamie Augustine
Rhys Howell
Dylan Thomas Daytona Coupe 145 126 laps 11 PRO-AM Tony Walls
Warren Luff
Tim Slade
Jaxon Evans McLaren 650s 260 11 laps 95 I Bryce Fullwood
Jules Westwood
Geoff Taunton
Jason Busk MARC Focus V8 244 27 laps 74 PRO Markus Winkelhock
Christopher Haase
Christopher Mies Audi R8 LMS 238 33 laps 777 PRO-AM 
Tomas Enge
Christopher Mies
Luke Youlden
Yasser Shahin Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 REX 219 52 laps 43 PRO 
Augusto Farfus
Marco Wittmann
Chaz Mostert BMW M6 GT3 217 54 laps 40 B Aaron Zerefos
Garry Mennell
Kean Booker
Mark Caine Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 193 78 laps 88 C Mike Simpson
Daniel Desbrueres
Jaie Robson
Ben Walsh Ginetta G55 133 138 laps 54 I Kenny Habul
Kyle Alford
Chad Parish MARC II V8 123 148 laps 58 PRO Shane van Gisbergen
Côme Ledogar
Craig Lowndes
Jose Close
Wolfgang Haugg McLaren 650s GT3 119 152 laps 67 I Jake Camilleri
Morgan Haber
Claudio Cappelli
Aaron Cameron MARC II V8 87 184 laps 46 C Jörg Viebahn
Nico Verdonck
Max Braams
Marco Schelp Porsche Cayman PRO4 84 187 laps 23 B Paul Tresidder
Chris van der Drift
Andrew Tang
Chen Yi-Fan Porsche 991 82 189 laps 3 AM Ash Samadi
Daniel Gaunt
Manuel Metzger
Dylan O'Keeffe Audi R8 LMS 66 205 laps 18 PRO Andy Soucek
Maxime Soulet
Vincent Abril
Rick Abresch
Finlay Hutchison Bentley Continental GT3 58 213 laps 82 PRO-AM Roman Rusinov
Andrew Bagnall
Matthew Halliday
Johnny Reid Audi R8 LMS 41 230 laps 9 PRO-AM Marc Cini
Dean Fiore
Lee Holdsworth
Ricardo Feller
Christer Jöns Audi R8 LMS 41 230 laps 48 C Justin McMillan
Caitlin Wood
David Crampton
Timothy Macrow KTM X-Bow GT4 31 240 laps 96 I Peter Major
Jordan Love
John Goodacre MARC Focus V8 0
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