Audi beats Whincup to 12 Hour victory

Audi has won a crash-shortened 2018 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, denying Jamie Whincup back-to-back victories in the GT sportscar enduro.

Racing a Mercedes, Whincup led the contingent of 11 Supercars drivers and finished second to the factory WRT effort of Robin Frijns, Stuart Leonard and Dries Vanthoor.

The earlier challenges of Chaz Mostert and Garth Tander for BMW and Audi respectively ended with damage, both entries having led parts of the race.

The race effectively ended with a multi-car accident on the run to McPhillamy Park with 20 minutes remaining.

The South African limped the car back to pitlane, but what he admitted was 'Bathurst inexperience' required repairs that cost the car 29 laps, and meant it finished 30th.

“We were looking really strong, the car was flawless the whole day, van der Linde said.

“Through Skyline there was some traffic ahead, I went offline to try to overtake him and there was no grip.

“It was a bit silly, but I can’t change it now.”

Winkelhok’s Audi later crawled to a halt at the Cutting with a left-rear driveshaft failure while leading Frijns with 100 minutes to go.

Sixth place went to the Strakka Racing Mercedes that featured Cameron Waters on his GT racing debut.

Waters led during the sixth and seventh hours and then David Fumanelli in the 10th, with Lewis Williamson bringing it home.

YNA Autosport’s McLarens dominated pre-event discussions, but the campaign also amounted to little.

Scott McLaughlin crossed the line 11th outright in the Pro-Am 650S he shared with Fraser Ross, Andrew Watson and Alexander West.

The entry lost two laps early through radio communication issues during Watson’s first stint, which they were ultimately unable to recover from.

It did, though, fare better than the Pro entry of Shane van Gisbergen, Craig Lowndes and Come Ledogar, which succumbed to overheating issues approaching the halfway point of the race.

The Objective McLaren of Tim Slade, Warren Luff, Jaxon Evans and Tony Walls started the day 24th, but raced well and even led in the morning.

It essentially remained in the top 10 thereafter, with Luff running on the lead lap and in seventh before a failed starter motor accounted for the car at a pitstop with 40 minutes to go.

The second WRT Audi in the Pro-Am class Will Davison raced alongside Pedro Lamy, Mathias Lauda and car owner Paul Dalla Lana ended the day 13th outright.

Class I was won by the Mustang-bodied MARC II led by Dunlop Super2 Series driver Will Brown, in 18th in the overall order.

Honours in Class C went to the BMW M4 driven by two-time Bathurst 1000 winner Tony Longhurst and third-generation racers Matt Brabham and Aaron Seton.

Before Martin’s crash, the AMG GT3 he shared with Reynolds, car owner Mark Griffith and Liam Talbot had been relatively quiet, running in 15th place.

Rebuilt overnight after a qualifying crash, Lee Holdsworth’s Audi was one of the first out of the race, Mark Cini fed into the wall at Reid Park as he slowed for an accident ahead on lap 42.