GruppeM Leads at Halfway After Well-Timed Safety Car

A well-timed safety car period allowed the GruppeM Mercedes-AMG team to take control of the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour at the halfway mark.

The fourth caution of the Intercontinental GT Challenge season opener came late in the fifth hour as the No. 15 Volante Rosso Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 Evo driven by Rylan Gray last control at the Esses and hit the barriers.

It came at the perfect time for the No. 888 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Maxime Martin, who had been running second behind Earl Bamber’s JMR Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, which had commanded much of the race up to that point.

Martin was able to pit under caution and hand over the No. 888 car to Mikael Grenier, who emerged in the lead when the 75 Express Mercedes-AMG, which had also been in the leading group, likewise took advantage of the yellow to pit.

Conversely, Bamber was among a minority of cars in the lead pack to have pitted prior to the caution, which brought a three hour, 20-minute period of green flag running to an end, as he gave the No. 2 JMR Corvette to co-driver Alexander Sims.

Bamber had stormed into the lead after taking over from Nicky Catsburg in the middle of the fifth hour with quick-fire passes on both Valentino Rossi’s Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO and Martin, the No. 2 car having lost ground in the pits.

With the race resuming just before halfway, Grenier led Jules Gounon in the 75 Express car, which performed a brake change under caution, while Augusto Farfus, who took over the No. 46 car from Rossi prior to the caution, ran in third place.

Fourth was the No. 222 Scott Taylor Motorsport Mercedes-AMG of Thomas Randle, who repelled an assault by Ben Barnicoat’s No. 95 Optimum Motorsport McLaren at Griffin’s Corner on the first lap after the restart.

The STM Mercedes-AMG had been involved in a tough battle with Rossi’s BMW in the hands of Cam Waters, who was forced out wide at The Chase but managed to pass the nine-time motorcycle world champion not long after at Turn 1.

Lucas Auer took advantage of Barnicoat being nudged wide to grab sixth in the No. 77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG.

Sims opted to bring the No. 2 Corvette back into the pits for a second time under caution, and ran seventh as a result behind Barnicoat.

Best of the Porsche 911 GT3 R drivers was Klaus Bachler in eighth for EBM, just ahead of brand stablemate Bastian Buus in the Absolute Racing car.

The safety car came as a big boost to the No. 32 WRT BMW that had gone a lap down due to its earlier damage from a kangaroo strike was able to get back on the lead lap, and ran 12th in the hands of Charles Weerts.

Leading the Bronze Cup class was the Herberth Motorsport Porsche of Alfred Renauer, just ahead of Ryan Wood’s Tempesta Ziggo-backed Arise Racing GT Ferrari 296 GT3, while Pro-Am was led by the GWR/RAM Mercedes-AMG of Garth Walden.

Grove Racing’s Mercedes-AMG lost eight laps due to a splitter problem and ran 26th of the 32 cars still circulating at halfway.