MOTORSPORT: Porsche wins Bathurst 12 Hour

Matt Campbell has claimed his second Repco Bathurst 12 Hour crown in convincing fashion, following a day of incredible drama on Mount Panorama.

Paired with GT racing stalwart Laurens Vanthoor and rookie sensation Ayhancan Güven, the Manthey EMA prepared ‘Grello’ Porsche 992 was the car to beat during the once-around-the-clock classic, leading at various stages throughout the race.

For Campbell, the victory follows in the footsteps of outright success in the Daytona 24 Hour two weeks ago, where he was a cornerstone of the victory for the factory Roger Penske-run factory team.

“Feels awesome, obviously second win, tough day, the weather, everything like that,” Campbell said.

“We were always running at the front, and it wasn’t easy with the mixed conditions; thanks to Larry [Laurens] and Ayhancan, they did a fantastic job.

“We kept it off the walls, and it was phenomenal. Second win, it’s unreal.”

However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the winning combination, who suffered a mid-race penalty for a pit stop infraction, with the drive-through sanction having to be repeated after the team attempted to serve it under safety car conditions.

When back on circuit, Campbell carved through the pack in the wet conditions and was swiftly back in control.

Second overall went to the reigning champions Kenny Habul, Jules Gounon and Luca Stolz, who were in the thick of the action throughout.

It was a case of so close yet so far for Gounon, who ultimately fell 2sec short of claiming a remarkable fourth straight Bathurst 12 Hour crown, which would have been a unique achievement in the history of endurance racing on Mount Panorama.

Audi meanwhile had a somewhat quiet race day, but when it mattered, Christopher Haase dragged the R8 LMS he was sharing with Liam Talbot and Kelvin van der Linde into third place in the closing laps.

In with a shot of a podium late was the BMW M4 as piloted by MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi, who was genuinely impressive in his second attempt at Bathurst.

In the final rundown, the car was classified fifth, although that was a much better outcome than the other team car, which started from pole position after Sheldon van der Linde dominated the top-ten shootout.

With Charles Weerts behind the wheel, on lap 120 of 275, the big M4 GT3 tangled with a lapped Ginetta GT4 at The Cutting, with the BMW heavily backing into the wall, causing one of the 13 safety car interruptions during the race.

Unlike last year’s record-setting pace, continued rain in the afternoon running slowed proceedings, with numerous cars coming to grief in the tricky conditions.

Throughout the race, local Supercars stars featured at the front of the field, although the best-placed runner at the finish was Jaxon Evans in fourth.

Elsewhere in the class stakes, the Pro-AM crown was taken out by the second Manthey EMA Porsche, with Yasser Shahin coming out on top with teammates Alessio Picariello and Harry King.

The focus from the Australian motorsport fraternity remains at Mount Panorama this week with the Thrifty Bathurst 500 and the opening round of the Repco Supercars Championship.

Bathurst 12 Hour results:

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