MOTORSPORT: Bentley belts Bathurst

After five failed attempts, Bentley finally claimed victory in the Bathurst 12 Hour enduro which began in darkness and finished with a downpour.

The winning Bentley Continental GT coupe trundled around as sensibly and reliably as a London bus, only hampered slightly by a puncture, as the British team’s various rivals played a snakes-and-ladders game around it.

There was a late challenge by Mercedes, but a pair of rear-wheel punctures in the final half-hour punished the AMG GT3s being driven by Mauro Engel and Raffaele Marciello, who was then dropped from second to sixth after failing to stop his engine as required during an emergency pitstop.

Jules Gounon anchored the Bentley effort and ran to the flag, before an extravagant celebration in victory lane with his co-drivers Maxime Soulet and Jordan Pepper as heavy rain peppered the track.

“It was really tense at the end, trying not to make any mistakes. You have those days when everything comes together,” said Gounon.

“We have seen the rain dropping right after I took the flag. Thanks to the racing gods. It’s an amazing result.”

So McLaren was runner-up with its racy 720S and a driver roster anchored by Tom ‘son of The Stig’ Blomqvist, as the local Triple Eight team – with Supercars stars Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen sharing with Mercedes factory driver Max Goetz – ran home a solid third.

The race was as tough as always on a baking hot day that saw crashes and mechanical failures that reduced the starting grid of 35 cars to just 23 finishers.

The winning Bentley set a race record distance of 1945km and 414 laps, but even their car needed an engine change on Thursday afternoon and the sister Conti started from the pitlane after repairs to massive damaged caused by a crash at The Chase on Friday. It crashed out of the race after a puncture in The Dipper.

But Garth Tander had the biggest hit of the day when he fired into the wall at McPhillamy Park after a tiny error in an Audi R8.

“I don’t need to see that again,” Tander said as he watched a replay of the 200km/h impact.

“I was only half-a-car wide and it snapped on me. There was no warning.”

Bathurst always throws up a tense ending, in the 12 Hour as well as the Supercars 1000, and the final hour triggered several battles and a number of mistakes despite running green after five previous Safety Car periods.

“It was a massive effort. We had a couple more pitstops than anyone else, but luckily it all worked out perfectly,” said Blomqvist, who had to drive back from several setbacks including a pitlane infringement.

Van Gisbergen was the stand-out in the third-placed Benz, racing hard all day and holding off defending champion Matt Campbell who did everything he could to get his Porsche onto the podium after a puncture.

“I had a great battle with Mattie. He was trying to put me off by flashing his lights,” said van Gisbergen.

“It was a cool finish. It was a bit of fun.”

But Whincup was disappointed as he reported a car that “didn’t really have the pace” and Goetz was unhappy with a poor stint in the middle of the race.

“I got the lead in the second stint and the pace was really good. But then I was on old tyres and I was really fighting a lot. It was probably one of the hardest stints in my life. I was disappointed because I lost some places, but I tried everything,” Goetz said.

The 12 Hour followed one of the mostly costly qualifying days in Bathurst history as the bill for destroyed and damaged racers topped $4 million in six major hits.

Amateur racer Sam Shahin was the biggest loser and was airlifted home to hospital in Adelaide for tests after injuring his back in a crash that totalled his Mercedes GT.

“What a crazy week. I’ve never seen so many wrecked cars in my life. Everyone was pushing the limits and we saw a few going over the limit,” said Whincup.

Images: Dirk Klynsmith