THE dominant #912 Porsche has hit a pair of hurdles in its pursuit of victory in the Repco Bathurst 12 Hour.
The car was handed a pitlane drivethrough penalty for breaching the pitstop rules, just as the seventh hour of the race concluded.
Ayhancan Güven headed to the lane during a Safety Car period that had been triggered by a crash for the #10 IRC GT of John Holinger.
Along with a switch to wet tyres, prompted by heavy rain that started to fall after the Safety Car period began, the team installed Matt Campbell in the drivers’ seat.
However, he rejoined the race before the minimum pitstop time of 85 seconds for any stop including refuelling had been completed.
The penalty was handed down soon after the race resumed, but the Safety Car returned to the track a lap later when Paul Tracy spun the #702 IRC GT at the Cutting.
Campbell was brought in during the caution period in an attempt to serve the penalty, however pitlane drivethrough penalties can only be completed during green-flag running.
That meant Campbell had to head to the lane once again when racing resumed in order to serve the penalty properly.
The first trip through the lane dropped Campbell to sixth place; the subsequent one, which he served at the end of Lap 163, dropped him to 15th near the tail of the lead lap.
The Manthey EMA car’s dramas elevated the #13 Phantom Global Porsche to the lead for the first time in the race, driver Bastian Buus leading the #77 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG of Daniel Juncadella and the #130 GruppeM Mercedes-AMG of Maro Engel.
The Porsche penalty wasn’t the only one to hit a leading contender in recent laps.
Stewards judged that the #2 Audi, with Riccardo Feller at the wheel, was responsible for causing Holinger to crash.
The standard penalty for contact between Pro and Am drivers where the former is responsible, under the rules set by Intercontinental GT Challenge organisers SRO, is a two-minute stop and hold in pit lane.
Fortunately for Feller, he came into the pits to serve it during the brief period of green-flag running between the Safety Car periods for the Holinger crash and Tracy’s incident.
Meantime, the sole surviving #46 BMW also received a drivethrough penalty, earnt by Raffaelle Marciello crossing the blend line too soon on pit exit.
