PORSCHE WINS 2024 BATHURST 12 HOUR

Despite having to serve two drive-through penalties, Manthey EMA Motorsport and drivers Matt Campbell, Ayhancan Guven and Laurens Vanthoor were victorious at this year’s Bathurst 12 Hour endurance race.

At the end of twelve hours of gruelling racing, the trio’s victory in the #912 Porsche 992 GT3R was by a mere 2.6 seconds over last year’s winners, the SunEnergy1 Racing team (#75 Mercedes-AMG GT3) led by three-time Bathurst 12 Hour winner, Jules Gounon. Third place went to Wash It/Jamec Racing Team MPC (#22 Audi R8 LMS), who made up two positions in the closing stages.

This year’s outright win is the second for Porsche at the annual Bathurst 12 Hour. The first was in 2019, when Earl Bamber Motorsport was victorious in a 911 GT3 R. Campbell was in the driver lineup that year, too. Campbell’s second Bathurst victory came just two weeks after his success at the Daytona 24 Hour classic in Florida, driving a Porsche 963 for the factory Porsche Penske Motorsport team.

First-time success

Of the rest of the Manthey EMA Motorsport squad, Turkish driver Guven became the first debut winner at the 12-Hour since 2020, when Jordan Pepper was part of the successful Bentley Team M-Sport. For Vanthoor, victory finally came a decade after his first start at the 12 Hour in 2014. This year's win was also the first for the 992-Generation GT3R, which had not competed in Australia prior to the 2024 race.

Manthey EMA Motorsport enjoyed a dual victory, with the team’s Pro-Am entry of Yasser Shahin, Allesio Picariello and Harry King, in the #911 991.2 GT3R, winning the class ahead of Heart of Racing by SPS (#27 Mercedes-AMG GT3). For King and Picariello, this was their first Bathurst 12 Hour start, while Shahin was back to take his first Bathurst win, having raced for EMA Motorsport in GT World Challenge Australia last year.

The Shell V-Power supported #911 Porsche finished one lap behind the outright winners after a race-long battle with their key rivals in the Pro-Am category, the Spanish/US Heart of Racing by SPS AMG of Ian James, Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas,.

Struggle to the Top

The pathway to success for Manthey EMA at Mount Panorama was not easy. After a bright, sunny start to the day, heavy rain and storms appeared at the mid-point of the race. The rain persisted, making conditions extremely challenging for the final six hours.

A drive-through penalty, incurred for a pit stop quicker than the mandated 85-second minimum time, was the only glitch for the winners as Campbell, Guven and Vanthoor combined to lead 195 of the 275 race laps – a Bathurst 12 Hour record.

The final third of the race belonged to Manthey EMA Motorsport, with the #912 car emerging from their final pit stop in the race lead. With Campbell at the wheel, Manthey EMA then had to survive a challenge from Gounon in the Mercedes-AMG after a late-race restart following a Safety Car intervention. Campbell judged the restart to perfection and fended off the Andorra-based driver to claim victory.

Also Porsche

Off the podium, the Phantom Global Racing Porsche GT3R impressed to take fourth outright in its Bathurst 12 Hour debut. Former Carrera Cup Australia Champion Jaxon Evans shared the driving duties for this China-based team with Swedish ace Joel Eriksson and reigning Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup Champion Bastian Buus.

Although they qualified outside the Top 10, the Phantom trio gradually worked their way into contention through the course of the race. Evans was behind the wheel for the intense final stanza, attempting a pass on Gounon for second at The Chase. That failed, and when Evans was forced wide soon after, it allowed the Jamec Racing Team Audi, piloted by Christopher Haase, to take the final podium position.