BMW in control at Bathurst after dramatic early hours
BMW in control in Bathurst after dramatic early hours
Four brands across top seven as halfway mark approaches
Three cars out of race, four Safety Cars already called
Team WRT BMW held down first and second as the 2025 Meguiar's Bathurst 12 Hour passed the five-hour mark, with pole-sitters Craft-Bamboo Racing fighting back from an early incident.
After a fourth restart courtesy of a debris clean-up, Raffaele Marciello (#46 BMW) led teammate Sheldon van der Linde (#32 BMW) and pole man Lucas Auer, with the #77 Mercedes-AMG close behind in third.
It was a sensational recovery for the #77, which lost a lap and was buried in the Murray's Corner sand after a collision with Will Brown (#26 Arise Racing Ferrari) after the first stops.
A green flag pit cycle saw Marciello hand the #46 over to Valentino Rossi, with van der Linde taking the lead in the #32. Auer remained third ahead of Luca Stolz (#75 75 Energy Mercedes-AMG) and Maro Engel (#888 GruppeM Mercedes-AMG), with Will Brown (#26 Arise Ferrari) and Matt Campbell (#911 Absolute Racing Porsche) sixth and seventh.
The #183 Jamec Racing/Team MPC Audi was the joker in the pack after the fourth restart courtesy of Bronze driver Liam Talbot, after Supercars star Broc Feeney pushed the Audi back into contention. Talbot later handed over to Ricardo Feller, who sat 10th.
After the fourth restart, Talbot was picked off by Mikael Grenier (#888 Mercedes-AMG), Daniel Serra (#26 Ferrari), Jules Gounon (#75 Mercedes-AMG), Alessio Picariello (#911 Porsche) and Jamie Day (#14 Volante Rosso Aston Martin).
Absolute Racing, which started 11th, opted to keep the #911 out during the second Safety Car intervention, with Ayhancan Guven leading through three hours.
After the third Safety Car, caused by a crash for Stephen Grove (#4 Grove Racing Mercedes-AMG), Picariello (#911 Porsche) led Weerts (#32 BMW), Kelvin van der Linde (#32 BMW), Maxime Martin (#888 Mercedes-AMG) and Serra (#26 Ferrari) to green, with Jayden Ojeda (#77 Mercedes-AMG) back on the lead lap in sixth.
Feeney (#183 Audi) began to carve through after getting his lap back following Talbot's early puncture, with a number of cars penalised through the stops. Notably, the #14 Aston Martin was slapped with a pit lane penalty, having been caught three seconds short of its mandated pit stop time.
The #24 McLaren, meanwhile, was held for five minutes after Anthony Levitt collided with Ojeda under Safety Car at Forrests Elbow.
As Feeney powered through the field, Picariello led Weerts by 0.9s through three hours. Kenny Habul's dramatic day came to an end when he handed over to Gounon, who rejoined a lap down.
Feeney picked off Serra and Martin on consecutive laps at Forrests Elbow, with Brendon Leitch lighting up the time sheets in the #93 Wall Racing Lamborghini to hold down second in Silver.
Picariello, Weerts, Kelvin van der Linde were covered by 2.3s at the three-and-a-half hour mark, with Feeney just 2.1s behind. Save for a scare behind the #50 KTM at Reid Park, the BMWs maintained position before Picariello stopped from the lead.
Leitch handed the #93 over to Adrian Deitz, foreshadowing a later clash with Luke Youlden's #47 Supabarn Mercedes-AMG that left debris strewn across the circuit into McPhillamy Park.
The fourth Safety Car of the day triggered change up and down the field; Serra remained in the #26 as Grenier took over the #888 from Martin. WRT pulled off another double Safety Car stop, revealing Marciello and Sheldon van der Linde at the head of the field. Feeney, meanwhile, handed the reins of the #183 to Talbot, who was second in the queue.
As Marciello led away, der Linde picked off Talbot on the fourth restart, allowing Auer through into third. Behind them, Grenier boxed on with Serra and Picariello, with Gounon clearing Day and James. On the following lap, Gounon caught and passed Picariello as Talbot fell into the clutches of the chasing pack.
As the BMWs and Auer streaked away, the #888 was next to hit a hurdle. GruppeM was handed a 10-second penalty over a pit stop infringement, with a hose pulled from the car as Grenier departed the box.
After the green stops, the #32 opened up a six-second lead over the #46, with Auer closing on Rossi. Stolz, Engel, Brown and Campbell rounded out the top seven.
All the while, a valiant repair effort by the Valmont crew saw Sergio Pires return the repaired #44 Audi to the race.
