In challenging conditions, the Bathurst 12 Hour kicked off yesterday morning with thick fog blanketing the track and competitors circulating with limited visibility until the sun rose an hour into the race.
The Audi’s continued their weekend-long dominance in the early parts of the race with a range of technical and mechanical issues later leading to poor positioning after a number of safety cars, but they still appeared in the running until a two-minute penalty for exceeding drive time took the last Audi back into the midfield.
This lets the three Mercedes AMGs up the front duking it out for the last two and a half hours until the checkered flag, with many hoping for a late safety car to get back on the lead lap and challenge for the race, but it never came.
This meant after twelve hours, there was a clean sweep of the podium, with Jules Gounon claiming back to back wins ahead of Craft-Bamboo and Triple Eight race engineering.
The all Mercedes 1-2-3 marked the first time in the event’s GT3 era that a single brand swept the overall podium and Mercedes’ first Bathurst 12 Hour win since 2013.
Today’s result also marks the first wins for SunEnergy1, team owner Kenny Habul who lives on Mount Panorama, German Luca Stolz and Austrian Martin Konrad.
The podium ended a dramatic day of racing, where several big guns, including the pole-sitting Audi of Chaz Mostert, crashed out early with an electrical issue.
The Bathurst 12 Hour will return in its usual slot for February 2023
