MOTORSPORT: Nissan triumphs in 12-Hour thriller

After 269 laps and an unprecedented 20 safety car interventions, the 2015 Bathurst 12-Hour went down to the wire. A frantic final lunge saw the Nissan GT-R return to the top step of the podium at Mount Panorama — for the first time since 1992.

It was Katsumasa Chiyo – one of three NISMO Global Athlete GT Academy drivers, along with Wolfgang Reip and Florian Strauss – who audaciously took the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 from third to first in the last two laps, passing Matt Bell (Bentley Continental GT3, co-driven by 2003 LE Mans winner Guy Smith and Steven Kane) and pole-sitter Laurens Vanthoor (Audi R8-LMS Ultra, shared with Marco Mapelli and former-F1 driver Markus Winkelhock) for a 2.4 second victory.

In what was effectively a series of 21 sprint races, the last corner of the last lap jiggled the order, with the Bell Bentley being shuffled from second place to fourth at the flag.

Vanthoor finished second, with the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Stefan Mucke slipping ahead for the final podium position.

Erebus Motorsport’s Mercedes-Benz SLS GT3, piloted by Jack LeBrocq, Richard Muscat and Dean Canto finished fifth after leading for portions of the race, while sixth was taken by the Ferrari 458 GT3 of Benny Simonsen, Andrea Montermini (another former-F1 driver) and Renato Loberto.

One of the pre-race favourites, the Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 of Roger Lago, David Russell and Steven Owen, eventually finished seventh, making seven marques in the top seven places.

Class B was taken by James Kondouris, Theo Kondouris, Marcus Marshall and Sam Power aboard their Porsche 911 Cup S, from motoring.com.au’s own Luke Youlden, who shared a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup with Stephen Grove and Ben Barker.

Class C was won by the Lotus Exige Cup R of Tony Alford, Mark O’Connor and Peter Leemhuis and Class D by the BMW 1M of Beric Lynton, John Modystach and Robert Thompson. Finally, the Class for invitational non-production cars saw the MARC Focus V8 of Garry Jacobson, Gereskowski and Adam Gowans victorious.

After 1671km of racing 34 of the 50 entrants completed the 12-Hour, which recorded an attendance of 32,297 across the course of the weekend; 6600 more than 2014.

And this despite the nearby presence of a V8 Supercar test at Sydney Motorsport Park drawing many of Australia’s leading drivers away from The Mountain.

The day before, Laurens Vanthoor drove around the incomparable 6.2km Mount Panorama circuit in a new official lap record of 2 minutes, 2.552 seconds. But it was Markus Winkelhock behind the wheel at the race start, making the most of the Audi’s improved pace, thanks to the GT3 class balance of performance adjustments for 2015.

Making a fast start from third was graduate gamer Wolfgang Reip in the Nissan GT-R NISMO, slotting behind Winkelhock by overtaking the front-row starting Lamborghini Gallardo, with which David Russell recorded a qualifying time of 2 minutes, 3.175 seconds.

Initially it was a game of cat and mouse up-front, the Audi pulling gaps under braking and across the mountain while the Nissan would make up most of the time both up and down the mountain.

Six laps in the first safety car was brought out, an unfortunate kangaroo being struck by the number 42 Class D E46 BMW M3 GTR. In addition to the wildlife and traffic hazards, John Bowe (piloting one of the three Bentley Continental GT3s and is well versed in the dangers of The Mountain), said that “in the dark, some of the inside walls are painted black, which makes it even more difficult than normal!”

Amazingly the lead cars had already been among lapped traffic, and Winkelhock was able to break the tug of war with Reip, immediately recording new 12 Hour lap records once the safety car pulled in.

After the mad initial rush of day-break, the race settled into a more common pattern. Several near misses (including the second-placed GT-R, which was almost side-swiped by a Porsche through Reid Park) interspersed with spins and the occasional damaging incident, produced three safety cars within two hours.

A pause to look at the leaderboard at this point partly revealed why this event is threatening V8 Supercars for popularity, with a mid-engine, V10 Audi, front-engine turbo V6 Nissan, front-engine V8 Mercedes, front-engine turbo V8 Bentley and front-engine V12 Aston Martin creating a diverse top five.

Amazingly, the number 8 and 11 Bentleys spun within 30sec of each other as the leaders completed lap 66, at a point where leader Winkelhock was nearing the three hour limit allowed for a single driver to run, stretching the (relatively) economical Audi R8 to driver and fuel limit.

Sustained green flag conditions over the next hour or so allowed drivers a racing rhythm. The sole McLaren MP4-12C, delayed earlier in the event, was impressing on its climb back through the field, running at the pace of the leaders and lightning on the straights.

At one-third distance the pole-sitting Audi maintained its lead, with Marco Mapelli driving. Second place was reassumed by the Nissan with Florian Strauss (who replaced Alex Buncombe in the lead-up) at the wheel after an audacious restart pass on the second Phoenix Racing Audi into Murray’s corner.

Experienced driver Dean Canto was third in the number 63 Erebus Mercedes SLS AMG GT3, which was being quite kind to its tyres and fuel loads -- the team’s pre-event focus on race strategy working to its advantage as time wore on.

Peter Fitzgerald had a lucky escape through the Chase in his Audi R8, being whacked by John Bowe's Bentley through the fast right before skating across both sand banks before coming to rest without further incident, though it yet again deployed the safety car.

“The big bad Bentleys are bullies, as far as I’m concerned,” he said.

The Bentley team, run by M-Sport (more famous for its rallying exploits), continued its run of highs and, leading the event with the Guy Smith/Steven Kane/Matt Bell car as the race passed its 100 lap mark under yellows.

As the safety car pulled in, however, Bell entered the pits, suffering from dehydration and exhaustion. That left Dean Canto leading from the Strauss GT-R, the number 15 Audi having pitted under yellow and dropping to fourth. Third place was the ever-improving Ferrari 458 Italia with Rigon at the wheel and in fifth was Alex MacDowall in an Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3. Five marques in the top five.

By 10.30am the 2015 Bathurst 12-Hour surpassed its average safety car count, with its seventh deployment.

On lap 132, with the half-way point rapidly approaching, the Lamborghini Gallardo of Steve Richards/Craig Baird/Justin McMillan pulled off to the side of Mountain Straight.

This produced a flurry of pit activity and another opportunity for the front-running Audi to pit under yellow flag conditions. Driver Marco Mapelli handed over to Laurens Vanthoor, and said of the race: “This track is harder than the Nordschleife… We have to keep an eye on the brakes given the long straights.” Vanthoor rejoined fifth.

Jack LeBroq assumed the lead at this point, his Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 leading Steve Wyatt in the number 77 Ferrari. The Bentley of Steven Kane was placed third and the GT-R fourth with Katsumasa Chiyo at the controls.

Despite leading, Betty Klimenko of Erebus Motorsport was unfussed: “This race is eleven hours of qualifying and one of racing. It’s the last hour that matters.”

Soon after, a delaminated tyre and spin at the cutting for the second Erebus machine, piloted by junior drivers Nathan Morcom/Austin Cindric/Simon Hodge, saw them lose their spot in the second half of the top ten; the 52 degree track temp adding another issue for already-overworked pit crews to consider.

Michele Rugolo, holding fifth place in the Wyatt Ferrari 458, was touched into a spin that lost him fifth place, at Hell Corner on lap 156.

This caused yet another safety car intervention, and subsequent flurry of pit-lane activity. Chiyo pitted from the lead with the GT-R, chased into the lane by the Mucke Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3, which was getting faster and faster as the race progressed.

Lap 161 – the traditional last lap of the Bathurst 1000 – passed by, the order was Vanthoor (Audi), Smith (Bentley), the Nissan of Chiyo passing the Mucke Aston Martin for third on the lap and Canto (Mercedes-Benz) in fifth, though the AMG SLS copped a drive-through for contact under the safety car. He dropped to sixth.

With the leaders on lap 169, BTCC champion Gordon Shedden spun his Aston Martin Vantage GT3, capping a tough race for the British crew, though he was able to get going again.

Bathurst 12-Hour’s twitter account showed its sense of humour at this point, tweeting ‘lucky number 13’ in reference to the safety car deployments.

At two-thirds down, with the track temperature at 59 degrees, another ‘Bentley bump’ (as the commentary team put it) sent the customer number 7 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 into the wall, after contacting the number 10 Continental GT3.

At this time Chiyo led from Canto and Haase in the second Phoenix Racing Audi R8, but another good luck story emerged. Benny Simonsen – brother of the late Allan Simonsen, the man who the Bathurst qualifying trophy is named after – had risen to eighth place in the Ferrari 458 GT3 he was sharing with former F1 driver Andrea Montermini and well-respected local racer Renato Loberto.

The team had been forced to start in 50th and last place after issues on Saturday.

After the 15th safety car restart on lap 195 it was the Aston Martin of Darryl O’Young in the lead. With a lapped Ferrari attempting to return to the lead lap splitting the leader from the pursuing Audis of Winkelhock (flashing its distinctive yellow lights) and Haase, another element of endurance strategy came to the fore.

Racing continued until 207 laps were completed, when another lapped car incident broke the record for safety cars, with the 16th deployed as the number 6 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of Gartner/Hector/Duffy/Zerefos went off at Murray’s after an incident with an Audi.

Felix Baumgartner, the Austrian daredevil who holds a record for skydiving 39km, was involved in the next incident, diving to the inside of the number 91 MARC Mazda3 of Ivo Breukers in the front-running Number 16 Audi at the daunting McPhillamy Park. The resulting crash was huge but Breukers was unhurt – testament to the strength of the MARC racers.

Lapped traffic was increasingly becoming the theme, though it appeared to more often be the lapper rather than the lappee causing the contact.

As the final two hours passed, the fourth-placed leading Aston Martin of O’Young/MacDowall/Mucke spun at Griffin’s bend with MacDowall at the wheel. He lost two positions as he flipped the V12 around, joining the track once more.

The order: Reip (Nissan), Kane (Bentley), Vanthoor (Audi), Baumgartner (Audi), MacDowall and LeBroq (Mercedes-AMG).

Betty Klimenko’s words proved prophetic as a slight breeze and cloud cover reduced track temperatures towards the business end of the race. The safety cars continued to rack up (five in the final three hours), meaning any break made by the leader was quickly vanquished.

With increasing amazement, most of the pitstops were merely for fuel; the Michelin and Pirelli slicks used by the Class A cars proving remarkably durable.

Aston Martin reporting that one set had been on the car for 800 kilometres, despite the often-searing track temperature.

GT-R gamer Reip pitted to hand over to Chiyo for the drive to the finish, giving the lead to the number 10 Bentley with a recovered Matt Bell now at the wheel. But it was the sister M-Sport Continental that brought out yet another flag, having stopped on Mountain Straight. It was to prove crucial for the Nissan team, allowing the GT-R to pick up time behind the safety car.

With only 38 minutes for go, it was another Bentley causing the next safety car, the unfortunate David Brabham hitting the wall at the exit of The Cutting after contact with the Aston Martin of Stefan Mucke.

Brabham, who was not on the lead lap, was letting the GT-R past before the Aston Martin impact. Brabham was sent to Orange hospital after the severe impact that put the Aussie-entered, privately-run Continental out of the race. Thankfully, he was given the all clear and was released.

The restart had the leading Bentley and Audi side-by-side, the Audi’s superior across-mountain pace against the Bentley’s brute straight-line strength. Vanthoor tried, but was unable to get through thanks to Bell’s defensive driving, which led to an unsportsmanlike flag.

All the time, Chiyo was dispatching lapped car after lapped car in the Nissan, and a final and 20th safety car for the unfortunate Class B pacesetters Stephen Grove/Ben Barker/Luke Youlden, who had beached their Porsche 911 GT3 Cup at Murray’s had the top three machines bunched with nine minutes to go. No lapped traffic here…

Crews worked inhumanly hard to clear the Porsche, and with only four minutes to go, the green flag was waved for a frantic two lap dash to the finish.

Chiyo excelled on the restart, getting a run on Vanthoor’s Audi and passing it into Hell Corner. Making the most of the Nissan’s straight-line speed – and Bell’s defensive approach – Chiyo was then able to draft the Bentley up Mountain Straight before taking the lead into Turn 2. He was then able to pull a gap that would become insurmountable.

The final podium positions were anything but decided, however, with Mucke and Canto muscling up behind the struggling Bentley and Audi.

The dice wasn’t decided until the very last corner on the 269th lap, with contact resulting in both Vanthoor and Mucke slipping past the Bell Bentley in that order to snatch the positions.

Chiyo took the chequered flag by 2.4sec from Vanthoor. Mucke was only 0.4sec from taking second place, with Bell another second back and edging the Erebus Mercedes by 0.1sec. It was the last car on the lead lap.

It was a resounding victory for the Nissan team, who returned the GT-R name to Bathurst victory after an absence of 23 years. This time, there were no ‘arseholes’, the knowledgeable crowd surrounding the dais cheering this team’s incredible story of triumph.

More photos of Bathurst 12 Hour race