Porsche took its second victory in the Repco Bathurst 12 Hour after Matt Campbell guided the famous ‘Grello’ Manthey EMA Porsche Type-992 GT3R to a dramatic triumph.
Penalties, rain and traffic ensured one of the most difficult 12 Hours on record, but the Porsche crew also including the experienced Laurens Vanthoor in addition to Turkish rising star Ayhanchan Guven greeted the chequered flag by 2.633s denying the SunEnergy1 team a three-peat.
A visibly disappointed Jules Gounon was unable to overhaul Campbell in the closing stages as traffic played its part leaving the dual reigning winners as runner up after stirring drives from Luca Stolz and Kenny Habul.
It was three different manufacturers making up the podium as reigning Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS series winner Liam Talbot scored his maiden Bathurst podium alongside Christopher Haase and Kelvin van der Linde in the Wash It/Jamec Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo 2.
The inclement weather made for plenty of challenges as the race began its eighth hour and SunEnergy1 took full advantage to take the lead as it opened up strategy. Manthey EMA elected to switch its strategy compared to the other frontrunners, but a mistake during a stop led to a penalty for not completing the pit minimum.
After Campbell served the penalty twice, the first time not counting as it was under safety car and this dropped him to 15th. The Phantom Group Racing Porsche spearheaded by Campbell’s former housemate in Europe, Jaxon Evans was in prime position as the conditions continued to change from wet to dry and back again.
It wasn’t long before a safety car was required following an incident for an Invitational Class entry, which proved perfect for the Pro-Am Manthey EMA Porsche driven by Alessio Picariello as pitting right before enabled Yasser Shahin to become the leader.
Once the safety car period ended, Shahin slid down the order as it was Campbell making the moves and taking the lead amid increased rainfall around the circuit.
Only needing to negotiate the last safety car period within 45 minutes of the conclusion, Campbell’s restart proved unstoppable as Gounon had no answer and his attention was on retaining second as Haase, Evans and the sole remaining Team WRT BMW of Maxime Martin. A move at The Chase by Evans briefly led to the Phantom Group Racing Porsche taking second, but Gounon recovered and Haase was the biggest beneficiary to lead the pack.
Evans was unlucky to finish off the podium in fourth as Martin was fifth, but it was Haase taking the final step on the rostrum behind Gounon and Campbell.
Pro-Am Class victory went to Shahin, Picariello and Harry King, while Adrian Deitz gave his new Lamborghini its maiden victory in Silver alongside Tony D’Alberto, David Wall and Grant Denyer.
The next round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS is at Phillip Island for the opening sprint round of the season on April 12-14, which will be live on 7 and 7+ as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries.