MOTORSPORT: Big brands battle at Bathurst

Aston Martin and Porsche are injecting all-new competition cars into the big-bore battle for victory in the Bathurst 12 Hour race on Sunday.

Eleven different car-makers are potential winners at ‘Australia’s international endurance race’, with Audi, BMW, Bentley, Ferrari, Honda, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG and Nissan filling out the field.

The Honda NSX is a first-time starter in the Aussie sports car enduro, Bentley is also fielding a hugely improved Continental GT, the Nissan GT-R is back, while the Mercedes-AMG GT has had a freshen-up to reflect the styling of the latest road car.

The Aston is the British brand’s new Vantage AMR with a turbocharged V8 while the Porsche is the new 911 GT3 R.

The GT3 contenders are highly-modified road-based competition cars which can lap Mount Panorama quicker than Supercars racers, and their various strengths and weaknesses promise an absorbing contest that will cover close to 2000km.

Audi has been the most successful brand at the Bathurst 12 Hour, but the race has even more stature in 2020 as the opening round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge and the field includes most of the previous champions including Triple Eight Race Engineering – which won with a Ferrari – fielding an AMG GT.

“There are so many brands and drivers this time with a realistic chance of winning. It will come down to who makes the least mistakes on the track and in the pits. And who copes best with the heat on Sunday,” says Triple Eight chief Roland Dane, the most successful team boss at Bathurst over the past 15 years in both the 12 Hour and 1000.

Dane’s Benz belter is crewed by his Supercars spearheads Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen, joined for the first time by German factory driver Maxi Gotz, but the T8 crew is missing Craig Lowndes.

“Craig is driving a Porsche this time. It’s a weird feeling going into the first race since 2004 where we’re competing against each other,” said Dane.

“As long as he knows his place, which is one place behind us, then we’ll all be happy.”

But Porsche has a five-car line-up that includes a range of drivers from Le Mans 24-Hour winner Earl Bamber to defending 12-Hour champion Matt Campbell.

The young Aussie has graduated to the ranks of Porsche’s full-time professional drivers, after working his way up from the junior development squad, and comes to Bathurst fresh from taking pole position and third in class at the Daytona 24-Hour race last weekend.

Campbell is one of 23 drivers who raced at Daytona, including New Zealander Scott Dixon who took the overall win in a Cadillac prototype and is driving one of the new Aston Martins, and Daytona class winner Chaz Mostert who is returning in a BMW M8 before switching from a Ford Mustang to a Holden Commodore for the upcoming Supercars season.

“You never know what is going to happen on the 12 Hour weekend. This is the first really big GT3 race of the year with all the manufacturers, so you never really know where your competitors are standing,” Campbell tells carsales.

“Some have new cars like us, and some have Evo versions.

“For sure, I’m really excited again It’s my sixth time and it’s my favourite event in the world. I know it inside and out.

“I love this racetrack. And the event is going bigger and bigger. It’s fantastic.”

As a GT3 regular, Campbell expects a close contest with the new Aston showing good pace but he says his new-generation Porsche will take some beating.

“From the outside some people might not see much difference, but underneath the car everything is completely different.

“It’s a really high-paced, fast race. If you go a lap down you cannot get it back. I think it’s going to be a case of going as fast as you can. It’s more or less turning into a 12-hour sprint race.

“For me, looking at the line-up, and certainly the teams involved this year… the race will be a slightly higher pace, with fewer slower cars, and maybe fewer safety cars as a result.”

But Dane is cautious about the challenge of the 12 Hour and the number of potential winners.

“I don’t think there is any one car that sticks out massively as being in a better situation. It will be hot and greasy on Sunday by the look of it, which means almost anything could happen.”

Qualifying and the Top-10 shootout will be broadcast exclusively live on Fox Sports 506 on Saturday, while the race itself will be shown ad-break free on Fox Sports and on free-to-air on 7Mate this Sunday.