Stolz Leads as Race Resumes With Two and a Half Hours to Go

Photo: Gruppe C Photography/SRO

Luca Stolz led the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour as the race resumed following a nearly one-hour red flag period due to a massive accident at Forrest’s Elbow.

The 75 Express driver took the restart following four laps behind the safety car, which resumed at 3 p.m. local time with two hours and 45 minutes to go.

The green flag was then waved with just under two hours and 30 minutes remaining in the race.

It came after a 55-minute red flag for the accident involving the No. 77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG of Ralf Aron, who slammed into a spun No. 79 Tsunami RT Porsche 911 GT3 R of Johannes Zelger.

Extensive track cleanup was required, while Aron was transported to a hospital in the nearby town of Orange, reported to be in stable condition.

Aron’s co-driver Lucas Auer reportedly rode with him in the ambulance per a report from pit lane reporter Shea Adam.

The stoppage shook up race strategy, which saw the majority of the front-runners stay on track after race control allowed all cars to change tires during the red flag period on safety grounds due to the field of debris the cars went through during the accident.

The No. 888 GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG of Maro Engel ran second, followed by Marvin Kirchhoefer’s Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo in third.

Raffaele Marciello and Matt Campbell completed the top-five in their No. 46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO and No. 911 Absolute Racing Porsche entries, respectively.

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