Separate dramas for lead contenders rock 2025 12 Hour

Three of the favoured entries to take out the 2025 Meguiar's Bathurst 12 Hour have all fallen out of contention in separate incidents as the eighth hour begins.

Ricardo Feller in the #183 Audi was taken to the garage, Valentino Rossi in the #46 picked up a pit lane penalty, and Maxime Martin in the #888 Mercedes crashed out within the space of half an hour to change the complexion of the race with four hours and 45 minutes to go.

The race's sixth Safety Car of the day was deployed when Feller ran long at The Chase in the Jamec Racing/Team MPC Audi on lap 164.

Replays showed a failure at the front right of the R8 which Feller qualified on the front row, cruelling Liam Talbot's chances of back-to-back podiums, and handing Broc Feeney yet more Bathurst heartbreak.

The Safety Car deployment was the undoing of Rossi, who overtook the #24 GT4 McLaren under yellow flags at the Metal Grate.

The #46 BMW was handed over to Charles Weerts during the Safety Car period, and whilst the Belgian maintained second after the stop cycle, they were slapped with a penalty straight after the restart.

Whilst Weerts dived into pit lane, a dust cloud kicked up behind at The Chase, as Maxime Martin made heavy contact with the outside wall in front of the Rydges Hotel.

Replays from the onboard camera of the #14 Volante Rosso Aston Martin appeared to show the Team GMR entry clip the inside kerb before overcorrecting and slapping the outside wall.

Martin jumped out of the Mercedes under his own power, although appeared shaken after the impact.

For teammates Maro Engel and Mikael Grenier, it was a disappointing end to a day where the #888 was right up the front and biding it's time at the back end of the top five.

"Right now, we don't know [what happened], most important is that he's okay," Engel said.

"It seemed like a pretty big impact into the concrete wall, not sure, it looked like he wasn't feeling great. We'll analyse the rest after."

Grenier added: "It's disappointing, we were back in the top four, just before we had a small issue in the pit stop. So far, Maxime was doing a very great job, looks like he just dropped a wheel in the sand and lost the car.

"These things happen here, but obviously the day's over now."

At the Safety Car restart on lap 175, Augusto Farfus led the way in the #32 WRT BMW, with Jayden Ojeda second in the #77 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes, and Chaz Mostert third in the #26 Arise Racing GT Ferrari.

Weerts took the restart in eighth position, though he, Rossi, and Rafaelle Marciello will have a lot of work to do to climb back up the order.