Bathurst 12 Hours: Matt Campbell steers Porsche to famous victory

Queenslander Matt Campbell along with teammates Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) and Ayhancan Güven (Turkey) brought home the Bathurst 12 Hour win for the #912 Porsche, with Manthey EMA delivering victory despite a penalty and compromised strategy.

Campbell denied defending Champion Jules Gounon a record fourth straight win after a Safety Car restart late in the race.

The 29-year-old Campbell from Warwick — who won the Rolex 24 at Daytona two weeks ago — raced to victory with Laurens Vanthoor and Ayhancan Güven, who claimed their first wins in the race.

“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.”

Gounon — who was less than three seconds from a fourth win — still managed to deliver a third straight podium for SunEnergy1 Racing, Luca Stolz and Kenny Habul after a tense battle in the dying minutes.

The Andorran driver was forced to hold off a charging 2024 Supercars’ rookie Jaxon Evans, with an attack at The Chase helping the #22 Wash It Team MPC Audi of Christopher Haase/Kelvin van der Linde/Liam Talbot clinch third.

The move also denied the #46 BMW of Valentino Rossi/Maxime Martin/Raffaele Marciello and Team WRT a podium, on a day the sister pole-sitting car dramatically crashed out in the first half of the race.

It was a day filled with drama and crashes, including an incident early where the pole-position winning BMW being driven by Charles Weerts spectacularly ended its day early when it crashed into a slower competitor, before riding the fence at The Cutting with its rear wheels in the air.

Evans/Bastian Buus/Joel Eriksson made it a Porsche one-four result in the #13 Phantom Global entry, with the #46 fifth ahead of the #888 National Storage Mercedes-AMG of Mikaël Grenier and the Triple Eight Supercars’ duo of Broc Feeney and Will Brown.

Remarkably, Manthey EMA did the double, with Alessio Picariello/Yasser Shahin/Harry King winning the Pro-Am class in the #911 The Bend Porsche.

A record eight cars finished on the lead lap of the Bathurst 12 Hour race, with six cars — including the #32 WRT BMW and #77 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG — not classified.

After the nine-hour mark, Güven took the lead from Thomas Randle, who was a surprise leader in the #222 STM Mercedes-AMG after a well-timed Full Course Yellow period.

Randle had enjoyed a 11.8s lead over Güven, who slashed the margin in a matter of laps before passing the Supercars driver down Conrod Straight.

The drama continued down the order, with the #130 GruppeM Mercedes-AMG and #77 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG hit with drive-through penalties over a breach of Balance of Performance rules.

The #130 and #77 were found to have exceeded maximum stint length — but the #77 didn’t get to serve its penalty at all, with Juncadella slapping the wall at Reid Park.

Buus charged after Randle and passed the #222 Mercedes-AMG for second — but by then, Güven was several seconds up the road when the #912 stopped for the penultimate time.

Buus, Randle — who held off Stolz — and Marciello stopped with 90 minutes remaining in the Bathurst classic, 20 minutes after Güven pitted.

Randle handed over to Waters, while Buus emerged line astern with Güven, with the two Porsches trading places through the Cutting. As Buus battled on cold tyres, Güven quickly built a healthy margin.

Waters, meanwhile, was cleared by Marciello and Haase as the final stops loomed. Marciello brought the #46 WRT BMW in on the brink of the 12th hour, with the BMW — with Martin taking the reins — taking on dry Pirelli tyres.

Waters, having fallen 15 seconds behind Haase, was brought in on the next lap in the #222 STM Mercedes-AMG. A lap later, Stolz — handing over to Gounon — and Haase made their final stops.

Haase emerged just ahead of Martin, who had brought his #46 WRT BMW up to temperature. Martin rounded up the #22 into the Cutting, but had 24 seconds to find on Gounon.

Phantom Global brought the #13 Porsche in, with Buus handing over to Evans. On the following lap, Manthey EMA responded and put Campbell in, ending Güven’s spirited drive.

When Campbell resumed, the #912 Porsche was 12 seconds ahead of a rapidly-closing Gounon —  but the race turned on its head again when the #701 Vortex, driven by Julien Boillot, hit trouble.

Boillot rotated at Griffins Bend, and in an effort to right the car, got stuck on the kerb and set grass, triggering another Safety Car — wiping out Campbell’s 12-second lead over Gounon.

Campbell led Gounon, Evans, Martin, Haase, Waters, and Grenier to green, with Engel nine seconds behind in traffic. Campbell fired in a 2:06.2632s on his standing lap, while Gounon lost 1.5s in one lap alone and fell into the clutches of Evans and Martin.

By the end of the second flying lap, Campbell opened by a 2.8s lead, with Gounon fighting the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG under fading light at Mount Panorama.

Campbell cleared the #230 Method Motorsport McLaren of Tom McLennan, but Gounon wasn’t as fortunate, losing four seconds into Forrest’s Elbow. It helped Campbell open up a 6.3s lead with 16 minutes remaining.

With seven minutes to go, Evans lunged on Gounon at The Chase, bringing Haase and Martin into play. Gounon hung on, but Martin was held out to dry as Haase cleared Evans up Mountain Straight.

As Campbell cruised to a 2:05.3709s on what proved the penultimate lap, Gounon and Haase went into the 2:03s. Campbell then caught the #702 IRC, but pushed the margin back out to 3.7s, eventually winning by the official margin of 2.6336s.

The #93 Wall Racing Lamborghini of Tony D’Alberto/David Wall/Grant Denyer/Adrian Deitz claimed victory in the Silver class in 12th overall.

GT4 victory went to the #19 Mercedes-AMG of Mark Griffith/Adam Christoudolou/Daniel Bilski in 17th, with Daniel Jileson/Adam Hargraves/Cedric Sbirrazzoul helping the #20 IRC GT — which was rebuilt overnight — to Invitational victory in 19th.

Attention now turns to the second event of the Bathurst SuperFest, next weekend’s opening event of the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship, the Thrifty Bathurst 500.

Opening practice for 2024 begins at Mount Panorama this Friday.

Bathurst 12 Hour Race Results