Scaling the mountain

Third win for Audi in the Bathurst 12 Hour.

A race of attrition, the Bathurst 12 Hour again lived up to its brutal reputation - but at the end of 12 hours, the Audi was in the box seat to claim the brand's third win at the Mountain and become the most successful marque in the race's history.

Photography Mark Horsburgh

4 February, 2018

Audi has clinched its third Bathurst 12 Hour title, making it the most successful marque in Bathurst 12 Hour history. In what was a dramatic race, marked by accidents and pace cars from the very first lap, but the Audi Sport WRT team kept the race lead in sight, and remained calm even in the face of some early technical difficulties and at one stage, a complete failure of the team’s radio equipment.

The first Australian appearance of the tremendously successful Belgian team, Bathurst was a daunting proposition for the three drivers, Robin Frijns, Stuart Leonard and Dries Vanthoor who were novices to the famed track.

The initial running was made by the two Valvoline Jamec Pem cars of Kelvin van der Linde, Garth Tander and Frédéric Vervisch in #22, and Christopher Haase, Christopher Mies and Markus Winkelhock in #74 – the two cars leading the race for most of the day from the morning start.

But when accident damage ended the #22 car’s day and transmission issues halted the #74 late in the race, the #37 WRT car was there to swoop on the race lead, which it held to the end.

An unprecedented number of safety car periods marked the race from the start, and it was ultimately a final safety car period that saw it to the end.

"Bathurst was a daunting proposition for the three drivers, Robin Frijns, Stuart Leonard and Dries Vanthoor who were novices to the famed track."

"I had a good team and the Audi was very strong on the mountain where you need good downforce, good brakes and top speed."

With only 12 minutes remaining, a major accident involving several cars including the Pro-Am class-leading #69 Supabarn Audi, caused officials to suspend the race. Such was the debris strewn all over the the track and the risk it presented to the other cars, the race was ultimately declared, and the leading WRT team clinched its first Bathurst 12 Hour.

“It means a lot,” said Dries Vanthoor after the race. “It was nice to give WRT a present on our first race here after they prepared the car so well.

“We didn’t hit a wall, let’s put it that way, and that’s not easy here,” he said of a race that saw accidents throughout. “I think it’s one of the best tracks in the world,” Vanthoor said of the Mount Panorama circuit.

“You can compare it to the Nurburgring and Macau. It is definitely in the top three. For the mountain I had to learn a lot, but I had a good team and the Audi was very strong on the mountain where you need good downforce, good brakes and top speed.”

Audi first won the Bathurst 12 Hour in 2011 (the first year the race was run under GT3 regulations). That year Christopher Mies, Marc Bessing and Daryl O’Young took the chequered flag over another Audi R8 LMS driven by local legends Craig Lowndes, Warren Luff and Mark Eddy.

In 2012, Audi returned to Mount Panorama and successfully defended its title, again with Christopher Mies and Daryl O’Young at the wheel, with Christer Jons rounding out the driver trio. The result was bitter sweet for Christopher Mies who looked for all the world as though he would at last realise a third win at the mountain, given his outstanding form this weekend and that of his co-drivers, but it wasn’t to be.

The consolation though of seeing an Audi once again on top of the podium was a welcome sight for Mies and the other Audi drivers who had worked so hard over the weekend.

Australian racing legend and Audi campaigner, Garth Tander, also saw a strong lead for he and teammates Frédéric Vervisch and Kelvin van der Linde, ended in the latter stages of the race summed it up, saying:

“Bathurst is one of those places that delivers such tremendous highs, but also tremendous lows.”

“We were on the pace and comfortably in first or second for most of the race, but this year wasn’t our time.”

Certainly it was the time of the Audi Sport Team WRT, celebrating one of Bathurst’s highs and marking Audi the most successful marque at the race in the process.

"Seeing an Audi once again on top of the podium was a welcome sight for Mies and the other Audi drivers who had worked so hard over the weekend."

Scaling the mountain

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