Bathurst 12 Hour update – Tense finish lies ahead
The winner of the 2023 Bathurst 12 Hour is still unclear after 10 of 12 hours have been completed at Mount Panorama.
The GruppeM Racing Mercedes of Maro Engel/Mikael Grenier/Raffaele Marciello enjoys a 30s lead over Matt Campbell in the Porsche after 265 laps around the Mountain.
Sitting in third is Luca Stolz in the Sun Energy 1 Mercedes, which was in front until lap 263 when he dived into the pits and lies 13 seconds behind Campbell.
A tense finish is in store with the top two on a different strategy compared to last year’s race winner, which will require a splash and dash.
Car #999 currently driven by Marciello is in the box seat if the race stays green, but Campbell’s Porsche is expected to spend less time in the pits.
The #888 Mercedes of Shane van Gisbergen, Broc Feeney and MaximilIan Gotz have dropped back to sixth after a pit-lane penalty.
The field entered the final third of the Bathurst 12 Hour, Maro Engel led Thomas Preining by 13 seconds, while the likes of Sheldon an der Linde and Maxime Martin sat closely behind.
After going off line at The Cutting proved costly, Shane van Gisbergen was a further 12 seconds adrift.
The SunEnergy1 car that had has led a lot of the race was a minute behind Engel due to running an alternative strategy.
The Pro Am lead changed hands at the eight-hour mark with Christopher Mies moving ahead of Fraser Ross in an all Audi battle.
Despite being miles apart on the leaderboard, Ross and Tony Bates exchanged blows when contact was made during what should have been a simple lapping manoeuvre
With 220 laps on the board, the pit lane got busy when both Team WRT cars and the Manthey EMA Porsche were serviced.
Leader Engel and van Gisbergen extracted an extra lap before also completing driver changes.
Raffaele Marciello in the #999 car rejoined just a second behind new leader Luca Stolz, who continued on a different strategy.
Despite being 19s behind the pair, Mathieu Jaminet in the Porsche gained time in the pits once again, while Maximilian Gotz and car #888 spent far too long stationary in the lane with blanking being removed.
The wash-up put Stolz and SunEnergy1 Racing back into the lead with more than 10 seconds ahead of car #999.
Stolz and Marciello then proceeded to trade purple sectors until the former pitted from the lead after a 34-lap stint.
Stolz stayed in the Mercedes and rejoined fourth with car #999 in control by around 30s ahead of cars #912 and #32 who are all on the same strategy.
The hopes of car #888 gaining ground from the top six took a hit when it was served with a drive-through penalty.
It was imposed due to a pit-stop infringement when the team performed an unauthorised rear-wing adjustment at its seventh stop. In the aftermath Gotz fell a lap behind the leader for a short period and Triple Eight Race Engineering team manager Mark Dutton said the mistake was “on us”
Despite fighting back into the top 10 and second in Pro-Am, PremiAir Racing and Schumacher Motorsport suffered heartbreak when Brad Schumacher was pushed into the garage with his Audi engine crying for help.
Augusto Farfus in Valentino Rossi’s Team WRT #46 BMW M4GT3 had to endure a brief visit to the garage to fix rear tail lights. The repair meant the car dropped from fifth to seventh and its podiums hopes received a setback.
Car #32 of Dries Vanthoor sparked the next round of stops for the leaders with second-placed Jaminet following him a lap later before Marciello was the last four laps later.
After the round of stops, Marciello, Matt Campbell, Broc Feeney and Sheldon van der Linde are in the hot seat and ready with the push home with only one stop left.
Stolz finally let the lead when he pitted with two hours and 13 minutes left on the clock, dropping from first to third and putting Marciello back in front.
It sets the stage for a fascinating final two hours of the 2023 Bathurst 12 Hour.
Bathurst 12 Hour leaderboard
1 #999 R. Marciello
2 #912 M. Campbell
3 #75 J. Gournon
4 #32 S. van der Linde
5 #77 N. Catsburg
