Tony Longhurst, Matt Brabham and Aaron Seton in the #30 Boatworks Racing Team M4 GT4 won the GT4 class in the 12 Hours of Bathurst in Australia. The #43 BMW Team Schnitzer M6 GT3 driven by Chaz Mostert, Augusto Farfus and Marco Wittmann that dominated early in the race exited the race after a crash at the 9 ½ hour mark, while the #100 BMW Team SRM M6 GT3 driven by Timo Glock, Philipp Eng, and Steve Richards finished ninth.
The M6 GT3s were quick from the outset; Mostert started the race from the pole and held onto the lead through the early hours of the race. In hour four the car was set back when Marco Wittmann was penalized for passing backmarkers too early on a restart. At that point New Zealander Steve Richards took the lead in M6 GT3 #100. The car had been started at the back of the pack by Timo Glock because its qualifying times were disallowed due to an overboost infraction.
The #100 M6 GT3 finished ninth at Bathurst (BMW Motorsport photo)
The #43 car recovered from its penalty, moving into the lead group. It was running fourth when it was involved in the accident that took it out of the race. M6 #100 ran in or near the lead group until a late-race brake issue set it back; it finished ninth. The overall win went to Robin Frijns, Stuart Leonard, and Dries Vanthoor in an Audi R8 LMS.
The all-Australian Boatworks Racing team’ #30 M4 GT4 ran a strong race to win the GT4 class. Two more M4 GT4s finished in the top five in class; American racers Daren Jorgensen, Cameron Lawrence, and Brett Strom and Canadian racer Kuno Wittmer finished fourth in the #13 RHC Lawrence/Strom team M4 GT4, and the #44 Team SRM M4 GT4, driven by Australian racers Dean Grant, Xavier West and Cameron Hill, finished fifth.
The #30 Boatworks M4 GT4 won the GT4 class at Bathurst (BMW Motorsport photo)
The race, run on the challenging Mount Panorama Circuit, was cut short when a late race three-car incident brought out a red flag. The race, punctuated by a number of safety car periods, was stopped twelve minutes short of the scheduled twelve hours.
BMW DTM Racer Timo Glock, who co-drove the #100 M6 GT3, said afterward, “It was once again a real highlight and a crazy race, with an awful lot of safety car periods. It was a dream for me to be able to start the race, as I did last year. That is very special here, and getting the car through all the traffic from the back of the field without suffering any damage was a big challenge for us. I achieved that, and we were already in the top-ten by the end of the first stint. Steve, Philipp and the whole team did a flawless job. The strategy was excellent, and we got the car through to the finish without a single scratch. Unfortunately, we had some issues with the brakes towards the end of the race, and dropped back. All in all, Bathurst was great fun again.”
