The Bathurst 12 Hour Endurance race has now become an international event with overseas factory teams entering. At the end of a very dramatic 12 hours, it was Ferrari who greeted the checker first.
1. Jamie Whincup/Craig Lowndes/Toni Vilander – Ferrari 488 GT3
2. Matt Campbell/Marc Lieb/Patrick Long/David Calvert-Jones – Porsche 911 GT3 R
3. Steven Kane/Guy Smith/Oliver Jarvis – Bentley Continental GT3
4. John Martin/Liam Talbot/Duvashen Padayachee – Porsche 911 GT3 R
5. Alvaro Parente/Come Ledogar/Rob Bell – McLaren 650S GT3
6. Roger Lago/Steve Owen/David Russell – Lamborghini R-EX
7. Ash Samadi/Daniel Gaunt/Matt Halliday – Audi R8 LMS
8. Florian Strauss/Todd Kelly/Jann Mardenborough – Nissan GT-R
9. Marc Cini/Lee Holdworth/Dean Fiore – Audi R8 LMS
10. Jim Manolios/Ryan Millier/Ivan Capelli/Dean Canto – Lamborghini Huracan GT3
An impressive line-up with Ferrari, Porsche and Bentley on the podium, leaving McLaren, Lambo, Nassan and Audi to make up the top 10. Australia has come of age with all the factory teams flown to Oz to compete.
As a supporting event, there was a time shoot-out for production cars, which saw Mercedes AMG GT R setting a lap record run with five-time German touring car champion Bernd Schneider setting a 2 min 16.5 second lap in the ferocious AMG GT R, a race-derived version of the company’s flagship coupe.
The lap time is almost eight seconds quicker than Schneider’s previous lap record in the lesser-powered AMG GT S variant, set in 2015.
