Bathurst 12 Hour Review: Bentley Break Their Duck

Bentley have won the Bathurst 12 Hour in commanding fashion! The squad that's so often plagued by awful luck and small errors have finally had something go their way, and funnily enough it was a puncture that turned the race finally in Jordan Pepper, Maxime Soulet and Jules Gounon's favour.

The race began with a bang with Maximilian Buhk taking the lead from the second row into Hell Corner. Pilet dropped down to fourth while a banzai move at the Chase by Ben Barnicoat in the McLaren took the lead from Buhk as the sun rose. Craig Lowndes ran wide at the Chase a few laps later, dropping seven spots to P12. He wasn't the only one to suffer early as, when the #20 MARC found the wall at the Cutting and the #95 caught fire during its first pit stop, the Invitational class was essentially decided after an hour. Two laps after the final pit stops of the first round were completed, Come Ledogar in the #188 spun and nailed the wall at the Skyline to the Esses. Following it, the 999 was put under pressure before on the second green lap Jules Westwood in the #6 Lambo fired into the wall at the same place. Less damage was done but the car was still retired and the safety car was still necessary. At the two hour mark, Maxi Goetz in the 888 was leading after the 60 and 999 pitted under yellow to break away from the pack on strategy.

Imperatori in the #18 made all of the moves after the restart, including some big ones around the outside of Griffin's Bend. However, the two team Audis found trouble about 2:30 in when the #2 with Dries Vanthoor ran wide at McPhillamy, while Garth Tander in the #22 tried to avoid and got unsettled, spinning and making major contact with the fence, ending their day. After this safety car, though, there was a green flag run for more than four hours. Afanasiev in the Silver AMG ended up in second due to pit strategy, however he let the frontrunners by on the first green lap. Nick Catsburg had hit a kangaroo under the safety car for the #6, and pitted to repair the damage to the bonnet which was beginning to flap. However, he unfortunately lost a lap, while the #60 took the lead four hours in. Just before four hours, though, the #24 Silver Audi stopped off the track at Mountain Straight, which ended up not necessitating the safety car.

Markus Winkelhock set the fastest lap on lap 102, breaking the 2:04 barrier. The #76 suffered damage on lap 115 and ended up in the garage, while in the following lap Patrick Pilet in the #911 suffered a puncture. After the #999 pitted from the lead, it and the 911 were given penalties for the car controller leaving his position during the stop. Just before the halfway mark and the 150 lap mark, the #2 Audi suffered issues with Dries getting stuck in a gear and having to go back into the garage. Soulet led halfway through for Bentley from Engel (#77 Craft Bamboo AMG) and Barnicoat.

Only one lap after six hours were made, the #222 with Mattia Drudi at the wheel suffered a puncture at McPhillamy. The #1 was the next frontrunner to suffer issues with it losing two laps with a braking issue. The #60 pitted but sped in the lane, getting a 30 second penalty. Just afterwards, the Safety Car was finally called when Dennis Lind stopped on track. Pepper cleared ten seconds from Luca Stolz in the #77 due to traffic after the restart. During the Safety Car, Renger van de Zande stopped at the top of the mountain and was stranded watching the race from the Reid Park marshal post until the next Safety Car.

The Pro-Am lead changed at lap 209 after Martin Konrad's #75 was crippled with an issue, dropping several laps as Ben Barker in the #4 got through. Unfortunately, at about 3:30 left in the race, the #8 Bentley that had done a great job to make its way up from a pit lane start spun after a tyre failed and retired to bring out the fifth safety car. Only eight cars were still on the lead lap: 7, 888, 77, 999, 18, 912, 911 and 60. Soulet pulled away as those behind him fought with each other for second and third. The #7 led just before the ten hour mark, but it pitted leaving the #912 to officially lead on pit strategy at 10 hours.

During the penultimate pit sequence, the #95 caught fire again, leading to a third stint for repairs in the garage. After the sequence was completed, the #999 led on virtue of not taking tyres, with the Bentley, which did, breathing down his neck and 60, 18 and 77 fighting for third. The 18 and 911 lost a lap due to pit strategy but got it back when the leaders came in. On the scheduled final lap of his stint, Gounon lost a tyre going down Conrod Straight. However, combined, the advantage of the overcut due to clean air, and a better pit stop was quick enough to retake the lead from Marciello. The #18 was taken out with half an hour to run for brake issues. The #77 punctured on lap 302, taking them out of third. Martin Kodric, in the Silver McLaren, took the fastest lap in a shock turn of pace, possibly announcing himself as someone to watch at some point soon. The #999 punctured with ten minutes to go and then switched on its engine while the tyre was still being changed, giving it a 30 second penalty. None of this affected the Bently which crossed the line just as the forecast rain started to fall, completing 314 laps (a new distance record) from the #60 McLaren and #888 Mercedes.

That's all that's gone down for this year at the 12 Hour! The next major race in Australia is the Adelaide 500 in two weeks' time, while the next Bathurst race is the 6 Hour in April and the next IGTC race is at Spa in July. For now, see you at the next post!