MOTORSPORT: Audi back to back Bathurst 12 Hour win

Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari staged an all-day battle in mainly wet conditions to win the Bathurst 12 Hour but after 270 laps/1677km the Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS raced by the all-Euro crew of Christopher Mies, Daryl O’Young and Christer Joens prevailed. It was the second consecutive win for the team and the first for Joens.

Just 90 seconds behind the Audi was the Erebus Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG of Aussies Peter Hackett and Tim Slade, Dutchman Jeroen Bleekemolen and American Bret Curtis, which couldn’t quite match the power of the Audi. Third, a lap down, was the Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia of Australia-based Kiwi Craig Baird, Malaysian Mok Weng Sun and Irishman Matt Griffin.

Rain took a heavy toll on the small field of 25 (18 cars lasted the distance), the second Phoenix Audi of Craig Lowndes, Warren Luff and Mark Eddy coming to grief when Eddy crashed at Skyline on lap 161 just before he was due to hand over to Lowndes. The #2 Audi had been competitive all day, but Eddy had earlier incurred a five-minute penalty for leaving the pits with the refueling hosed still attached to the car, scuppering any chance of winning.

The Black Falcon Mercedes also came to grief when car owner Sean Patrick Breslin accidentally switched the traction control to the full dry setting instead of full wet in the rain and crashed heavily, writing off the car. It was also a bad weekend for Lamborghini. After Ted Huglin crashed his Gallardo heavily at Hell Corner in Saturday qualifying, Wayne Park, driving the JBS Racing LP 600 GT3, lost control in the wet at the same corner during the race and smashed into wall

By far the quickest car in the race, the Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia had unlucky day when first a fuel monitoring glitch caused the car to run out of fuel at the top of the Mountain. Driver Alan Simonsen (sharing with John Bowe, Dominik Farnbacher and Peter Edwards) was able to coast to the pits but fell two laps behind the leader.

So fast was Simonsen he was almost able to get back on the lead lap before handing over to Bowe, but later in the race a faulty engine sensor caused the fire extinguisher ‘bomb’ to go off inside the car during Farnbacher’s stint and it was subsequently withdrawn. Earlier, though, Simonsen had stunned pitlane and the small crowd by resetting the lap record six times, eventually lowering it to 2:06.33sec.

First in Class B and a stunning fourth outright was the Hunter Sports Group Porsche 997 of mining magnate Nathan Tinkler and V8 Supercar aces Steven Johnson and Steven Richards. The Donut King Racing Nissan GTR of Adam Beechey, Tony Alford and Peter Leehmuis was the top Class C car and sixth outright and the first Production car home was the Racer Industries HSV Astra VXR of Scott Pye, Elliot Barbour and Chris Pither, which finished seventh outright.

More photos from Bathurst 12 Hour at motoring.com.au

Audi video highlights from morning racing

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