MOTORSPORT: Porsche and Campbell reign at Bathurst 12 Hour

Matt Campbell became the new king of the mountain with a last-gasp win in the Bathurst 12 Hour.

The brilliant young Aussie, already a Le Mans class winner, stunned a star field to secure a fairytale win in a 21-minute final fight to the flag.

Driving a Porsche which was in contention for much of the brutal battle of Bathurst, Campbell showed his class as he muscled past Supercars star Chaz Mostert in a BMW and Jake Dennis in an Aston Martin.

“It is so awesome. It was win it or bin it,” Campbell told www.carsales.com.au.

“I knew it was going to be tough, but not that tough. Crazy. To do it the way we did …”

“The 12 Hour is my favourite race of the year and Bathurst is my absolute favourite racetrack in the world.”

The three-man Porsche crew battled through the middle part of the race, as track temperatures soared over 30 degrees and cabins baked at more than 50, while a string of cars took time at the front. They included Audi, BMW, Bentley and Mercedes-AMG, as the international GT3 rules produced an incredible multi-faceted fight.

Campbell said he had to play tough with his final two passes, making contact with both Mostert and Dennis, but defended his tactics and the pass for the lead.

“He certainly wasn’t making my life easy. I saw my opportunity … and I had to seize my time. It was then and there,” he said.

Campbell shared the win with Dirk Werner and Dennis Olsen in the last race for a superseded 911 GT3.

The second-placed Aston had to fight back from a trouble-plagued qualifying, as Jake Dennis was originally on pole position but was punted back to 12th after a pitlane speeding penalty and an engine management error that allowed him too many revs.

He was the late leader, but saw his advantage erased with the final appearance of the safety car with only minutes to the flag.

“I sort of got a bit annoyed when the safety car came out. I knew we would be up against it. I saw the Porsche coming like a rocket. It was on the limit for both of us, but he did the job,” Dennis said.

“To lose it the way we have is hard to take. He wouldn’t have got past if he hadn’t hit me. We made contract and he pushed me wide. (But) whatever happens, happens.”

The co-drivers in the Aston were Matthieu Vaxiviere and Marvin Kirchhoefer.

The unhappiest man at the finish was third-placed Italian, Raffaele Marciello, whose Mercedes-AMG looked like a winner for much of the day as he, Maxi Buhk and Max Goetz ran hard and fast.

“Today we got stolen from victory,” he said.

“We got two drive-throughs (penalties) which were not drive-throughs. It was really strange, saying I passed under yellow flags. Something strange happened today, no bullshit.”

There was predictable carnage through the day, much of the crash action involving tail-enders, but the highly-rated Audi R8 of Christopher Haase was stopped by suspension damage and Maro Engel’s Mercedes-AMG was stopped by an engine drama.

“Not much we could do. Garry (Paffett) got carried off the track, the radiator got blocked, and we had to switch the engine off,” Engel said.

“Next year. We’ll come back.”

The four-day attendance at the 12-Hour was 50,000 people, a record.