Early Favorites Fall Victim to Mt. Panorama

Image: Bathurst 12H

A number of pre-race favorites have already fallen victim to Mt. Panorama in the early stages of the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour.

The race, which went caution-free in the opening hour, has seen three safety car periods for heavy accidents, including two at the top of the mountain.

David Calvert-Jones lost control of his Icebreak Competition Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R at Sulman Park to bring out the first yellow in the second hour.

It resulted in early retirement for the GT3 Pro-Am class effort, which had previously finished on the overall podium.

Contact between the No. 96 MARC Cars Australia Marc I of Mathijis Bakker and the Nick Percat-driven No. 27 HubAuto Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 at Forrest Elbow resulted in the second caution period.

Shortly after the restart, Andreas Baenziger made hard contact with the wall in the No. 760 R-Motorsport Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 to bring out another safety car. 

While the Competition Porsche is out of the race, the HubAuto Ferrari has returned to action after lengthy repairs.

The No. 35 KCMG Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 of Tsugio Matsuda, meanwhile, leads the race overall at the three-hour mark, ahead of Craig Lowndes’ No. 888 Team Vodafone Mercedes-AMG GT3, who is on a different fuel strategy in second.

Martin Tomccyk runs in third in the No. 42 Team Schnitzer BMW M6 GT3, having survived a brief off-course moment while battling for position in the third hour. 

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