Mercedes Rules On The Mountain In A Thrilling 12 Hours
The Erebus Mercedes SLS GT3 squad of Bernd Schneider, Alexander Roloff and Thomas Jäger overcame the elements and a strong challenge from the Clearwater Ferrari squad to take the 2013 Bathurst 12 Hours.
In the end the Mercedes finished a lap clear of their closest rivals completing 268 laps – a lap clear of the Clearwater Ferrari and the VIP Petfoods Porsche RSRGT3.
While the team seemingly had the race covered, the race itself wasn’t so easy.
The race started at 7am to clear skies. The 53 car field took the start with the Trofeo Corvette making the field after a heavy qualifying crash and the Invitational class Cobra starting from pit lane. It was not to be forgotten that the race also doubled as the opening round of the Australian GT Championship (see separate story). The distinction was important as cars like the Maranello Ferrari, VIP Porsche and Erebus Mercedes would be taking that into consideration in their early running.
As it happened, the early race was heavily punctuated with safety car periods; the first was when the Motorsport Services Porsche of Marcus Mahy made contact with the wall as he tried to move out of Mika Salo’s way. This incident also saw Salo’s #88 Ferrari brush the wall, something that seemed innocuous at the time but which would have major consequences for the Il Bello Rosso squad.
The most significant incident happened when the Aston Martins got together. It eliminated Tony Quinn on the spot who suffered broken ribs in the impact. The St Gallen Aston Martin would rejoin the race but was hours behind. The accident also eliminated the Lago Lamborghini.
The impact would have ongoing effects as Quinn could not race. He was replaced by Matt Kingsley, who was originally meant to race with the Lago squad. The driver change was approved by the teams, but it added more controversy to a car that was protested before the race due to having 2013 upgrades, thought to be against the regulations.
As the race went back to green, a melee down in the pack would see another safety car period.
As the first hour closed, the race could not find its rhythm.
Hour 2 would spell disaster for the Engstler BMW Z4, which made heavy contact with the wall at McPhilliamy after a pitstop; the Clearwater Ferrari with Mok Weng Sun in the car narrowly avoiding the spinning BMW. The Engstler team never looked at home on the Mountain and Charles Ng would end their weekend.
Soon after, a scary incident saw the Dragonspeed Audi spin wildly at the Chase. Christian Zugel had a rear tyre let go, pitching him into a series of four spins before rolling back across the track, with a Class B Porsche only just avoiding the Audi. Zugel can count himself lucky, as in the past cars that suffered similar failures have rolled, destroying machinery.
It was also the hour where the Maranello Motorsports effort would fall away. With Simonsen at the wheel, the team lost the lead after a spin and lost a lap.
He was in good company though as a myriad of safety car errors with wave-arounds put the Peter Conroy Audi and the Hallmarc Audi a lap further down than they needed to be.
Simonsen was driving like a man possessed to get his lap back and would succeed soon after. Both he and Warren Luff from the Hallmarc Audi squad stalked Peter Hackett in the second Erebus Mercedes before he let them through to regain their laps.
Simonsen and co continued to drive valiantly to put themselves back into contention, but that all came amiss on lap 78 when their suspension failed; a byproduct of their brush with the wall earlier in the race.
While they would make it back out, they were many laps down and a tangle with a slower car would put them out for good.
Another safety car would further impact the first third of the race. It was caused by one of the Seats which came to a halt on the Mountain. The importance of this safety car is that on the restart, the #63 Erebus SLS (i.e. the Australian one) and Clearwater 458 would receive drive-through penalties. This would be the first of four drive-through penalties for Clearwater – effectively taking away their chance for victory.
As the race continued, Bernd Schneider would take command of the race, putting in one of the best stints the Mountain has ever seen to put the German Erebus Mercedes in a commanding position.
The pressure was evident on their competitors – particularly that of Clearwater, who were desperate to win. A dive-bomb by Sun to lap an Audi at the final corner would result in a drive-through, although it appeared both cars could continue. Again, this incident would come back to haunt the team later in the race.
The race though would be under another safety car, this time for a spin for Craig Lowndes in the Audi.
It is worth noting that the safety car completed enough laps to be classified 30th and race control were amused with how much the safety car had to be refueled.
The Lowndes safety car was caused when a rear hub broke at the Cutting. Lowndes spun and the position made it quite difficult to recover the car. The 23 minute safety car certainly added many laps to the safety car tally.
Another short safety car caused when the Invitational class Cobra hit the wall would be the final safety car for over an hour.
That period of running would see the end of the Clearwater challenge for victory as a delamination of their front splitter would result in a black flag and reduced downforce at the front. Despite the efforts of Matt Griffin and Craig Baird, their challenge for victory turned into a challenge for the podium.
This meant that the fight at the front turned into an all-Erebus battle. Only the weather or a mistake from Erebus could rob them of victory. They had one lap, then two, on the rest of the field.
As the final hours beckoned, reports of nasty weather came in from surrounding districts and this weather would not miss the Mountain.
With two hours remaining, the heavens opened, dumping a huge deluge of rain on the Mountain; on the back of the track first, then over the pitlane.
There was no option but to throw the safety car as the entire field was stuck on slicks. Passes were made as cars travelling at a brave 25 km/h took those moving at a steadier 20 km/h.
As the teams and drivers trundled around behind the safety car, there would be one final sting in the tail.
As the rain passed and the track got to a raceable point, the safety car came in. It would be called back out by the time the cars passed Turn 1.
The second placed car (that of the Australian Erebus crew) was involved in a collision with the leading Invitational 1 car, the Motionsport Lotus. It would eliminate the Lotus on the spot and the Erebus car would limp back to the pits with broken suspension.
The Erebus team put in a valiant effort and got the car back out, but the run for victory as over. It was also heartbreaking for Motionsport who only received the car from Dubai on Wednesday and were running a giant-killing race ahead of the factory Peugeot RCZs.
It was then a nervous 40 minute run to the flag as the weather hovered. It would rain once more before the flag, catching out the unfortunate Brendon Hartley in the United Autosports Audi. He spun, contacting the wall. His suspension broke and so did his top six run.
That would be the final sting in the tail. There would be no more.
Erebus took the win, with Clearwater second and the VIP Petfoods Porsche in third.
“This is really, really special for me, for all the guys and AMG Customer Sports,” said Schneider.
“I have been racing for 40 years and it has been a long time since I have had to learn a new circuit – especially one like Bathurst.
“It’s such a difficult place. On Friday when we had our first runs out there, we could not learn the circuit because of the traffic. You couldn’t learn the braking points if you always have cars in front of you. We were struggling with that, but we were lucky we had Tim and Lee to see where we lost our time. We finally found a really good setup for the race, which was the main thing.
“When I jumped in the car for my first stint today I was really happy because the balance was very good and very consistent; I could push hard in the last three or four laps which is when I did my quickest lap times. When the heavy rain hit, it was more like surfing down the hill!
“During the race there was much pressure, especially the last hour. We had a comfortable lead of two laps, but that can easily be eradicated – you have to be 100% sure of the track.
“We have achieved something really special, especially since it’s the first time for Erebus Motorsport and the first win for AMG Customer Sports at Bathurst – particularly after the recent dominance of another manufacturer at this event.”
In the end, the Hunter Porsche (David Russell, Steve Johnson and Johnny Reid) would take the win in Class B and the Lotus Exige of Thomson, Talbot and Sartori in Class C. The Class C win is a story in itself. Rob Thomson has raced at the Bathurst 12 Hours five times before this year. On Thursday, his father passed away, but Thomson continued.
And won.
It was also emotional for Peugeot’s David Wall who raced here in the past with his father, Des. After last year, they had planned to race here together in 2013 but Des succumbed to cancer in 2012.
“The crew did an amazing job and I have to thank Peugeot – it is really nice go away with some silverware,” said Wall.
“I was fortunate to be here, battling for class honours. I think we did what we came out to achieve. We also had fun doing it. I’ve not laughed so hard as I did with these guys, which was needed after the things that had happened with my family over the past year.”
Peugeot took a 1-2 in invitational 1.
Other class winners included Mal Rose Racing (Commodore) in Invitational 3 (13th overall), and the #17 Motorsport Services Seat Leon Supercopa for Invitational 2 (20th overall).
The production categories were taken by Racer Industries, who successfully defended their 2012 title with their Holden Astra, and the GWS Personnel BMW in Class D.
The Belgian We Are Legend Porsche deserves a special mention. The team has never come to the Mountain before and throughout the race avoided trouble, drove cleanly and finished 15th overall, just missing the podium in Class B. What is more important is that the car looked as straight as it could be – barely looking like it had raced for 12 hours.
“It was most important to us to finish the race, for one,” said driver Brody. “When it began to rain it was ok for us as it always rains in Belgium. We hoped to get third but we are 200% happy with fourth.
“This track is very interesting, the walls are very close but it is very good and we hope to be back.”
Undoubtedly the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hours was a thrilling and incident-filled event. It is gaining prominence around the world and will be back in 2014 – hopefully building momentum to truly cement itself as a prestige event in the sportscar world.
Sam Tickell
