Bathurst Post-Race Notebook

Photo: Gruppe C Photography/SRO

***Porsche secured its second Repco Bathurst 12 Hour victory, the first with Manthey EMA, following Earl Bamber Motorsport’s win in the 2019 race. Matt Campbell, who is now a two-time winner, played key roles in the victories on both occasions.

***Campbell, who also won January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona with Porsche Penske Motorsport, praised co-driver Ayhancan Guven’s ironman stints at the wheel of the No. 912 Porsche 911 GT3 R, in what came in the Turkish driver’s Bathurst debut. “For Ayhancan he did a phenomenal job considering it was his first time here and in the wet,” Campbell said. “I must say hats off to him and a very big congrats.”

***Guven added: “The last three weeks, coming here with the ‘Grello’ was clearly pressure and I just didn’t want to be the weak part of the team during the race, that was my goal by the beginning of the weekend. But day by day, session by session I started to feel more comfortable.”

***It marked the second 12-hour victory with the Type-992 Porsche 911 GT3 R for Vanthoor, who was part of the car’s GTD Pro class win in last year’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

***Campbell, Guven and Vanthoor combined to lead 195 of the 275-lap race, the most in race history. All three drivers led laps in what marked one of the most dominant performances from a single team in recent memory.

***Eight cars finished on the lead lap of the race, which marked another event record.

***Porsche has taken an early lead in the Intercontinental GT Challenge manufacturers’ championship standings, with a 12-point advantage over second-placed Mercedes-AMG and BMW in third, a further 16 points back following a race-ending crash for the pole-sitting No. 32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Charles Weerts.

***Weerts took responsibility for the accident after making contact with the No. 47 Ginetta G55 GT4 in The Cutting in the fifth hour, which nearly sent his BMW over the barriers in dramatic fashion. The Belgian was unhurt in the shunt.

***He said: “Unfortunately I had a contact with a lapped car, and it was quite unlucky to get traffic at that exact post. There are different philosophies. Looking back at it now, I would have waited a bit longer, but we are racers, when we see a gap, we go for it. I still don’t have a lot of experience at Bathurst and I’m not the first one it happened to. I will not try to overtake on the outside there when I come back here.”

***Phantom Global Racing impressed on its debut race in conjunction with Team 75 Bernhard, with the Chinese-entered No. 13 Porsche finishing fifth after leading the race and setting the race’s fastest lap. Jaxon Evans was running third on the final restart with 30 minutes to go but ultimately lost spots to both Christopher Haase and Maxime Martin.

***Evans said: “We were so close to the podium and there was some very hard racing out there in the final laps. Starting from 18th this morning and finishing fourth is still a great result. I’ve been so impressed with the way that the team handled their first weekend. It’s nice to see everyone work really hard together to achieve the maximum. I think they have a really bright future ahead and I feel privileged to have been a part of it.”

***Kenny Habul revealed post-race that he plans to make a bar out of his SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo that was craned out of his museum in Connecticut in order to be put back into action. The chassis won the 2023 race in its competition debut and took Habul, Jules Gounon and Luca Stolz to a second place finish on Sunday.

***The all-Bathurst rookie lineup of Ian James, Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas finished second in Pro-Am aboard their No. 27 Heart of Racing by SPS Mercedes-AMG, which appeared to be in position for the class win until Gunn was assessed a drive-through penalty due to weaving on the final restart.

***Riberas said: “That was probably the craziest race I’ve ever seen… The car was running great, we didn’t have one problem and not a single scratch on the car. As we were all here for the first time, I am positively surprised by the result. To drive home with a podium finish is a very good result. The win would have been possible without the penalty, but I’m still very proud of the whole team.”

***Teams were given a one-lap buffer for the new-for-2024 enforced 32-lap maximum fuel stint length during the race. Several cars, including the No. 130 GruppM Racing and No. 77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMGs, exceeded the limit on at least one occasion and were handed drive-through penalties as a result.

***There also appeared to be general confusion from a number of competitors on the safety car procedure, which saw cars slow to 80 km/h within 15 seconds of the neutralization, although many drivers did not promptly close the gap and join the queue once the safety car joined the track.

***Four cars, meanwhile, were given a two-minute stop-and-hold penalty for an improper wave-by procedure late in the race.

***A total of 11 safety cars and two Full Course Yellows marked a significant increase compared to last year’s five safety car periods. All but two of the safety cars were for incidents involving cars in the GT4 or Invitational classes. Event operator Supercars elected to use safety cars for the vast majority of the incidents, rather than the so-called virtual safety car.

***Both the No. 77 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG and No. 2 Melbourne Performance Centre Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II retired with toe-link damage late in the running. Dani Juncadella brushed the wall in his Mercedes-AMG, while the Audi dealt with an ill-handling car for a considerable amount of the race before calling it quits.

***Supercars reported a three-day attendance of 47,333 spectators, slightly down from last year’s event record of 53,446 people.

***Pirelli has been confirmed as the exclusive tire supplier of the event through at least 2028, in a new deal that was announced during the race. SunEnergy1’s Habul, who owns property on Conrod Straight, was also announced during the race as an official ambassador for the city of Bathurst.

***Next up for IGTC competitors is the Nürburgring 24, a new addition to the globe-trotting GT3 series’ calendar, which takes place on May 30-June 2.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John