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Hour 9: Rain Chaos At Bathurst

SunEnergy1 heads the field with 3 hours left, Manthey EMA still in the mix

Jules Gounon heads the field in the SunEnergy1 #75 Mercedes at the Bathurst 12 Hour with three hours left, as conditions at the Mountain have caused chaos.

The rain set in just after the halfway mark, bringing whole field in for wets, before clearing out too early for teams to time their cross-over on to dry with the fuel stop. Then, when everyone finally switched back to dry tyres, the rain came down again!

While the #75 leads, the period of the race has been dominated by the #912 Manthey EMA Porsche, who had just taken their pit stop before the three-hour mark.

The #912 dominated despite picking up a penalty for breaking the minimum pit-stop time while doing a driver change. Compounding the issue, Campbell tried to take the drive-through just as another safety car was called; however, officials instructed the team to take the penalty again under green flag conditions to clear the penalty.

The Porsche has been a weapon in the wet however, and has dominated the middle part of the race in between numerous Safety car interventions.

Just after six hours had elapsed, the 6th Safety Car was called to recover the #10 Matt Stone Racing MARC IRC GT, which was seen in the barriers in the Esses. John Hollinger was into the wall hard, with replays showing that he got help from the #2 KFC Audi of Ricardo Feller.

Feller got pinned for a 2-minute Stop and Hold penalty after being adjudged to be responsible for the contact.

While the Safety Car was out, the rain began to fall in earnest, bringing everyone into the lane to switch to Wets.

After 27 minutes, the race went back to Green, with the rain beginning to ease off. This was where the penalty for the at-the-time leading Manthey EMA Porsche was given, with Campbell electing to stay out for another lap to try and stretch as much of a lead as possible. Feller on the other hand came in to take his 2-minute stop and hold.

But there would be another Safety Car intervention, for the #702 TekWorkX MARC IRC GT which came to a stop at The Cutting. Paul Tracy was facing backwards on the exit of the corner and gently rolled down the hill to gain some vision. He executed a good flick spin, but the car stalled and looked to be more damaged than thought, requiring pick up on a flatbed.

The Safety Car saved the #2 KFC Audi’s blushes, with the 2-minute penalty mostly under yellow flag, allowing Feller to return to the track on the lead lap. Campbell however tried to take the drive-through in the #912 Manthey EMA Porsche under the Safety Car, arriving in pit lane about 20 seconds after the Safety Car was called.

Despite protestations from the Porsche outfit, officials dictated that they had to take the stop again under green flag conditions.

Another 20-minute stoppage saw the rain stop and a dry line start to appear even under safety car, helped by the still warm ambient conditions. The crossover was still difficult to manage, with Marciello in the #46 WRT BMW struggling on the wet tyres on the drying track.

But the fastest on track was Campbell, despite taking the pit lane penalty. He was taking chunks out of the drivers up ahead, with Engel in the #130 Gruppe M Mercedes holding up the train once Marciello pitted. Campbell cut the gap down to 20 seconds, as the leaders tried to stretch their stint on the wet tyres to get to the optimal fuel window.

Then there was another Safety Car intervention due to another Invitational class car. The #10 Matt Stone Racing MARC IRC GT, now with Cameron Hill at the wheel, was returned to the track after repairs. Unfortunately, the car ran straight on at Griffins Bend on it’s out lap, getting buried in the tyres and bringing out another Safety Car.

And under Safety Car the rain started to fall again, slowly getting heavier. After 15 minutes we were green again – Picariello handing over to Yasser Shahin in the #911 Shell V-Power/The Bend Porsche, who took the helm of the field, but very quickly the conditions deteriorated, bringing almost the whole field back into the pits for wets.

Cameron Waters in the #222 Scott Taylor Motorsport Mercedes tried to tough it out on slick tyres, but aquaplaned at the top of the Mountain and gingerly limped back to the pits, losing over 40 seconds on the additional lap.

This left Campbell back in the lead in the #912, who had motored through the field in the conditions. Just as he took the lead, there was another Safety Car interruption.

Jack Le Brocq had a monster moment in the #48 M-Motorsport by Erebus Mercedes, aquaplaning on the exit of McPhillamy and entering Skyline backwards, making heavy impact on the left hand side of the car. That car limped to the pits, and has only just returned to the track.

In the midst of the weather, the #25 Method Motorsport McLaren, leading GT4, also hit the wall at Skyline, and spent almost an hour in the pits.

Once the safety car cleared, Campbell was over 2 seconds a lap faster than Maxi Goetz in second place in the #77 Craft Bamboo Mercedes, who was holding up Gounon in the process. Gounon eventually rounded Goetz but had lost over 14 seconds to Campbell in the process.

The race did briefly settle into a steady rhythm until a Full Course Yellow was called to manage the #111 MRA Motorsport MARC II, which was facing backwards at the exit of the Dipper. Axle Donaldson was turned around by the #47 Supabarn Mercedes, but was able to reverse the whole way down the mountain, using The Elbow to execute a three-point turn.

The call back to Green caused chaos, with Felipe Fraga in the #130 Gruppe M Mercedes and Mikael Grenier in the #888 National Storage Mercedes making contact on the exit of the Chase. Grenier was lucky not to barrel back across the race track, with Kelvin van der Linde in the #22 Wash-It Audi, Jaxon Evans in the #13 Phantom Team75 Bernhard Porsche, and the #46 WRT BMW of Maxime Martin having to take evasive action!

After all that, Gounon leads from Goetz, with van der Linde in third. The race is in the middle of a pit stop cycle, which should see the #912 retake the lead.

In Pro-Am, Ian James in the #27 Heart Of Racing Mercedes was the first Bronze to complete his driver time, and Ross Gunn leads the class in 5th overall in that car. The #93 Wall Racing Lamborghini leads Silver, just one lap away from the race lead, and The #19 Nineteen Corp Mercedes leads GT4. The #20 Localsearch T2 MARC IRC GT leads Invitational, with every car in that class having a significant delay so far.

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