Porsche, Campbell take emphatic Bathurst 12 Hour win

PORSCHE overcame wild weather and a late-race Safety Car restart to claim an emphatic victory in the 2024 Repco Bathurst 12 Hour.

Matt Campbell drove the final stint aboard the #912 Manthey EMA Porsche that he shared with Laurens Vanhoor and Ayhancan Güven, the trio having led the bulk of a race run in wet and dry conditions and overcame a mid-race penalty.

A Safety Car with 45 minutes to go set up a tense run to the chequered flag.

All the leaders had completed changes to slick tyres, leaving, Campbell with a 12-second lead over Gounon and a further 20 seconds covering the top five cars.

Then Julien Boillot spun the #701 Vortex at the exit of Griffins Bend on his out-lap from the pits, attempting to flick-spin it back in the right direction only to beach the French sportscar on the apex kerb.

3 HOURS: Porsche holds sway in early hours

6 HOURS: Rain looms as Porsche leads at halfway

9 HOURS: Rain persists as reigning champs hit the lead

The Safety Car eliminated Campbell’s advantage and brought the first seven cars line-astern for the restart with 30 minutes remaining.

But Gounon’s pursuit of a fourth-straight 12 Hour triumph came up one position short.

He was glued to Campbell’s tail all the way up the hill on the restart, but the Porsche exploited its strength across the top to pull a 1.5s margin by the exit of Forrest’s Elbow.

And the Queenslander just kept going. The ‘Grello’ Porsche was 2.8 seconds clear after two laps, with traffic the only variable that caused it to ebb and flow from that point on.

The final nail came with 15 minutes to go. Campbell slotted past a GT4-class McLaren at Sulman Park; Gounon and his pursuers had to follow it down through the Esses, the Dipper and into Forrest’s Elbow, blowing his deficit out to almost seven seconds.

Campbell managed that cushion all the way to the flag, claiming his second 12 Hour victory and the first for race veteran Vanthoor and rookie Güven.

The podium order chopped and changed in the final laps. Evans launched a bold move on Gounon at the Chase on Lap 270, but the Andorran fended him off.

Their squabbling allowed Martin to range up outside the blue Porsche, only for the Belgian to run too deep at Murray’s Corner and fall to fifth.

Christopher Haase pounced, muscling past Evans to move the #22 Audi to a third place he held to the flag.

The final restart also had a kicker in the battle for the Pro-Am class win.

#27 Ross Gunn was right on Jamie Whincup’s tail, the #88 Triple Eight Mercedes-AMG hobbled by a broken front spliter that had been badly flapping throughout much of the final hour.

Gunn picked the seven-time Supercars champion off soon after the restart, but he was soon penalised for continuing to weave after the Safety Car extinguished its lights.

That handed the class lead to the #911 Porsche, Alessio Picariello bringing it home in ninth place overall to secure the win with Harry King and Yasser Shahin and a double class victory for Manthey EMA, while Gunn recovered to second past the limping Whincup.

Adrian Deitz’s brand-new Lamborghini Huracan claimed the Silver class victory in its first race, Tony D’Alberto driving a steady final stint to secure the win for he, Deitz, Grant Denyer and David Wall.

Mercedes-AMG won the GT4 class courtesy of the #19 entry of Mark Griffith, Adrian Christodoulou and Daniel Bilski, while the #20 IRC GT of Cedric Sbirrazzuoli, Daniel Jilesen and Adam Hargraves overcame their Saturday practice crash to win the Invitational class.

RESULTS: 2024 Bathurst 12 Hour