HI to all you Supercars fans around the World!
On the weekend of January 31 to February 2nd was the 2020 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12-hour, a pre supercars season race.
This is one of the years most gruelling endurance races for GT cars. It is so well known it draws many international teams and drivers.
In the preliminaries to the race there were a number of mishaps.
The 777 car didn’t take the start due to too much damage on Saturday. Team manager, Roland Dane was not happy. He said that Cameron McConville should have retired a long time ago. Joke or not, that is pretty harsh!
39 cars were entered but only 34 started the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 hour before the sun came up, at the unholy time of 5:45am.
Most cars had experienced international drivers start behind the wheel.
The number 8 Bentley started near the back of the pack after not making Qualifying.
Matt Campbell put the Porsche on pole position but co-driver Patrick Pilet started the car.
During the opening stages the 999 Mercedes led the opening lap, then not long after that the McLaren took the lead and was hard to catch from there.
Craig Lowndes started the number 1 Porsche and he did a double stint early on.
When the sun came up the accidents started to happen.
The first safety car was dispatched just under 90 minutes into the race. Car 188, the Aston Martin driven by Côme Ledogar took a turn too wide, bounced over S-bend curbs and heavily hit a concrete wall. He then bounced off the wall and made contact with cars on the left and then the right. The the whole right hand side was torn clean off the car, passenger door and rear wheel included coming to a halt in the middle of the track
This wasn’t the last of the carnage. There was much more to come during the race.
Chaz Mostert’s 12-hour race got ruined in the third hour. After his co-driver Nicky Catsburg took the wheel, in his first few laps collided with a kangaroo. It must have been a big disappointment; Chaz Mostert is yet to win the 12 hour.
Also, Warren Luff was behind the wheel when the 95 MARC car caught fire in the pitlane. Twice!
Garth Tander crashed out in the # 22 Audi between Reid Park and McPhillamy Park after contact with the 222 Audi which completely decimated the 22 Audi. I thought there is no way that the team could repair the car in time for the rest of the race, which unfortunately they didnt.
Jamie Whincup spun Marc Cini around in number 9 Hallmarc Audi and didn’t get pinged for it.
In the middle of the race most of the teams changed brake pads and rotors. This improved performance and the drivers went nuts with grip.
The number 1 Porsche had brake dramas and finished the race 2 laps down.
Towards the end of the race the bad weather forecasted hit with a dust storm, thunder, lighting and buckets of rain.
I was surprised how many crashes there were in the Bathurst 12-hour last weekend.
Out of the 34 cars that were in the start line only 23 finished. Awesome but gruelling race!
Results for the 2020 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour:
1st Jules Gounon & Maxine Soulet – Bentley Team M Sport.
2nd Alvaro Parente & Ben Barnicoat – 59 Racing.
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen Jamie Whincup & Maximilan Gotez. – Mercades AMG Team Triple Eight.