Campbell: Continuity a Boost in Hunt for Third Bathurst Win

Porsche factory driver Matt Campbell believes continuity will be a boost to his ambitions of scoring a third Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour victory this weekend, as he continues with Absolute Racing for a second consecutive year at Mount Panorama.

Campbell will share Absolute’s No. 911 Porsche 911 GT3 R with Alessio Picariello and Bastian Buus in the opening round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge season as he seeks to add to his event triumphs from 2019 and 2024.

It marks the second year in a row the Australian tackles the event with Absolute, with Picariello also returning from the lineup that finished sixth in last year’s race.

Amid an increase in cars compared to last year’s grid, with Chevrolet and Ford both fielding GT3 entries for the first time, Campbell was cautiously optimistic about his chances of becoming a three-time Bathurst 12H winner.

“I think we’re in a good position,” Campbell told Sportscar365. “For sure last year was a tough race for us, but we are well prepared and we have a strong lineup.

“We’re with the same team two years in a row, and it always helps to have familiar faces for sure, especially when you are working with international teams.

“There’s a bit of an unknown with the increased number of cars, and there are so many good lineups. But hopefully there is a good chance for us this year.”

Porsche endured a tough Bathurst 12 Hour last year, having won the preceding year’s race with EMA Manthey trio Campbell, Ayhancan Guven and Laurens Vanthoor, with its sole Pro class entry, the Absolute car, finishing sixth.

The Weissach marque has a total of five cars entered this year, including the EBM car that joins Absolute in the fight for outright honors, as well as Bronze class entries for Tsunami RT, High Class Racing and Herberth Motorsport.

A potential boost for Porsche’s chances comes in a tweak to the fuel allocations, as the 911 GT3 R has a three-liter drop from 104 liters to 101, while the BMW M4 GT3 EVO that won in 2025 (in non-EVO spec) sees an eight-liter decrease to 100 liters.

“We are more or less similar to last year, so we know what we have, but we’ll have to wait and see,” said Campbell when asked whether this change would help his chances.

“We have a lot more Pro cars and good entries, so I wouldn’t necessarily expect more cautions. It also looks like it will be dry, so it should be a fast race.

“I think strategy might be more important this year than the last couple of years.”

Picariello is still searching for a first overall Bathurst 12 Hour win as he prepares to make his third start at Mount Panorama, having been part of Manthey EMA’s Pro-Am class-winning effort in 2024 together with Harry King and Yasser Shahin.

The Belgian driver feels the change in fuel allocation could make the contest more even this year after a 2025 edition dominated by BMW.

“For us it’s not such a big change,” said Picariello. “BMW loses quite a bit, last year they were really strong on this and they could go a lot longer than most others.

“It will make the strategy tougher and the fuel game a bit harder as well, so it will be interesting to see. I hope it makes everyone more equal.

“But also if you have a pace advantage, you can save more fuel, so we have to see.

“With the new cars like the Corvette and so on, we have some unknowns as well, but we know what we have and hopefully it’s good enough.”