Contenders stumble at Bathurst 12 Hour quarter distance

The Pro class Johor Motorsport Racing JMR Corvette has emerged as a key player at one quarter race distance in the 2026 Meguiar's Bathurst 12 Hour.

At the completion of the latest round of pit stops, Dutchman Nicky Catsburg leads in the #2 Corvette, leading a three-car lead battle rounded out by Raffaele Marciello (#46 BMW), and Cam Waters (#222 Mercedes).

The latest phase of the race began after Mark Rosser's crash at Skyline, with Valentino Rossi and Charles Weerts judging the second restart to perfection, whilst Will Davison baulked the pack behind with a tardy restart.

The Arise Ferrari of Daniel Serra rounded up the EBM Porsche of Klaus Bachler as the field checked up behind Davison on the run up Mountain Straight, whilst the lapped Volante Rosso McLaren of Bayley Hall also mixed it up with the lead group.

Hall went sailing around the outside of Serra in a bold move at the kink entering The Chase, where an even bigger moment just minutes later brought out the third BMW M Safety Car of the day.

Danny Stuttered suffered a rear wing failure at the fastest corner in Australasia on his #111 IRC GT, and went for a wild spin through The Chase, tearing the wing and front bodywork off the car.

The sole remaining Invitational entry did get re-fired, and drove back to the pits, however the gravel and debris kicked onto the racing surface necessitated a clean-up.

Some of the leaders once again pitted, with the #75 and #77 Mercedes-AMG's ticking off more stops, the #75 completing it's fourth stop, and Craft-Bamboo completing stops five and six in the one Safety Car period.

The #6 Mercedes-AMG also took every opportunity it could to fix damage from a wildlife brush earlier in the race, getting out of the pits just before Rossi took the green flag.

Davison got a much better restart following the third Safety Car restart, however it still wasn't good enough as Alexander Sims got by in the #2 Corvette for third, and Hall continued his charge forward rounding up Davison before The Cutting.

However, Hall's charge was quickly undone by a pit lane penalty for a pit stop breach, meaning the #15 Silver class will now rely on a wave-by to get back onto the lead lap.

Another who will rely on a wave-by is the #32 Team WRT BMW, who was forced into the pits as the damaged front bar began shedding parts as soon as the race went back to green.

A three and a half minute repair would've been completed within a lap under Safety Car, however under green flag race conditions the car that won last year lost one and a half laps.

Freshly installed in the pole-sitting #222 Mercedes-AMG, Chaz Mostert began to work his way forward, moving by Serra into fourth at Griffins Bend, before jagging both Davison and Rossi at The Chase in short order to move up to second.

Rossi had earlier been overtaken by Alexander Sims in the #2 Corvette at The Chase, with the Brit leading Corvette's first ever laps at the 12 Hour.

Mostert stalked Sims right up until they both pitted at the end of lap 68, with Nicky Catsburg jumping into the Corvette, and Cam Waters into the Mercedes-AMG.

Rossi pitted at the end of lap 70 following a 37-lap fuel-saving stint, promoting the #888 Mercedes of Mikael Grenier into the lead for the first time today.

Jules Gounon also had the hammer down approaching his stop at the end of lap 73, being the only driver to dip into the 2:02s range through

The #2, #46, and #222 all found themselves stuck together again soon after the stops, with Catsburg and Raffaele Marciello tangling at the exit of The Chase, and inviting Waters into the fight.

On their alternate strategy, the Mercedes-AMG Team Craft-Bamboo #77 competed the pit cycle on lap 77, completing it's seventh stop of the day in just three and a half hours of racing and installing Ralf Aron.