Team TRTCaltex Power Rankings: Bathurst 12 Hour
Spoiler alert: The Bathurst 12 Hour was once again HOT.
Fortunately for us, there were a good deal many things to Power Rank from this epic event, once again brought to you by Caltex.
ABOUT THE RANKINGS: The TRT Power Rankings are compiled by your nominations from social media and edited by the TRT editorial team. They’re designed to give a balanced, as fair as possible critical overview of those things that excelled and those things that struggled, at each event. It’s (mostly) a democracy, and what you nominate generates the order, so have your say next event via our social media channels, @theracetorque on Facebook, Twitter and Insta. Look for the call out each evening and get commenting!
HOT
1. Matt Campbell & Co
It’s Matt Campbell’s world, and we’re just living in it. Australian motorsport should be so incredibly proud of this kid. Perhaps there has never been a better result of our system – a product of true grassroots racing on provincial short circuits, State Formula Ford, National Formula Ford, a bloody Fiat 500 in the 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour, GT3 Cup Challenge, Carrera Cup and overseas as a Porsche Pro in Porsche Supercup, WEC, IMSA and more. Now a prototype driver for Roger Penske’s factory team, Matt was one of the main reasons that Porsche were victorious in the recent Rolex 24 – what an incredible double. In 2019, he won the Bathurst 12 Hour by brute force; this time, it was dominance.
Elsewhere in the camp, Laurens Vanthoor did Laurens Vanthoor things in breaking his Bathurst duck, while Ayhancan Güven was possibly seen as a weak link in the entry, but as a rookie, he was absolutely supreme. The day for the Grello Porsche was far from perfect, but the fastest car ultimately landed on the top step of the podium.
2. The Bathurst 12 Hour
It’s just hot.
The crowd, the atmosphere, the camping, the racing, the racing, the racing.
It simply never fails to deliver.
3. Jules Gounon/Kenny Habul/Luca Stolz
Jules Gounon went within 2 seconds of winning his fourth successive Bathurst enduro title, a feat that has never been achieved in the 85-year history of Mount Panorama. Let that sink in for a moment. The fact that he doesn’t have a Supercars enduro drive is simply criminal. Kenny was better value than ever, while Luca Stolz flew under the radar and yet again did some big things on track.
4. Manthey EMA
First outright, first in Pro AM – a mega day for the team and Porsche. Yasser Shahin, Harry King and Alessio Picariello spent a stint in the McPhillamy Park bunker, but ultimately persisted when others faltered.
5. Liam Talbot/Christopher Haase/Kelvin van der Linde
Where on earth did they come from? Liam utilised the Kenny theory to come through with a Bathurst podium for MPC, while the Pros put in a big performance to skull drag the orange Audi onto the podium in the closing stages.
6. Racing Action
Huge spice at the start of the second stint as pit strategy came into play, with many mega moments throughout the day – we could list them all here, but we would run the internet out of bandwidth.
7. THAT Combined Sedans Finish
Saturday morning, combined sedans, Angus Fogg versus Geoff Taunton, equal parts brilliant and terrifying with rocket ships placed among general suburban traffic, with a last-corner pass for the win… sensational racing that made worldwide news.
8. Valentino Rossi
Continued to be the event’s biggest draw, and in 2024 trim, was genuinely competitive. If he had the rub of the green late, he could have been on the podium with BMW.
9. The 2024 Sideshows
– Jules Gounon in an unrestricted AMG GT3 with all of the fruit. A hard hot in anyone’s book.
– The Ford SuperVan 4.2. Wowee.
10. The TV of Things
– Friday’s live coverage – amazing, thank you
– New camera angles – the run through Sulman Park is sensational, ditto The Cutting, locked off cameras on walls, while the elevated angle at Murray’s Corner was able pick up the cars on the exit of Forrest’s Elbow crystal clear – amazing.
– Garth Tander – articulate, incredible Bathurst insight, current GT3 experience, perfectly dry humour, viewers everywhere have asked for more. Please.
– Paul Tracy in commentary. What a legend.
– 12 Hours of uninterrupted motorsport on Kayo.
– In-race strategy breakdowns with Chad Neylon: brilliant for understanding at home.
– Massive ratings nationally, P7 overall for the day on FTA.
– We are lucky to have the event covered in such a slick production. Bring on 2025.
FURTHER HOTS
The Rains
A great talking point and a spectacular sight for those who could hunker down in the Rydges. The second blast of rain while under green saw the field dive into the pits, except for Cam Waters, who paddled around for an extra circuit in the lead, losing 45sec in the process. A huge test for the best GT drivers in the world right to the finish. Incredible theatre.
Track to Town
It continues to be a great initiative; nothing says you are in town better than rolling down the main street with a fleet of race cars.
Broc Feeney
Provisional pole converted into a front row start, Broc continued his mega form from the 2023 event. World class.
Sheldon van der Linde
Pole, a big lap to put BMW back on top of the pops on Saturday afternoon.
Our Editor Craill living his best ever life
No red flags on Friday
After the tear-ups of previous years, this was a breath of fresh air.
2025 Prospects
More manufacturers involved? 2024 was a pretty damn good ad for the race that should get a few people up and about in some different corners of the automotive world…
WHAT
Shit Truck Washing
Is everyone ok?
Never before in the history of drinking, have so many men around Australia wanted to press their face up close to the face of our editor Craill. The man has a fan club…
Things you love to see
It’s called Fa-Shun
Class
We can tell that the Reckless Brewing table is straight from the brewery, but which grandma is missing their lounge suite?
That slightly mischievous smirk always has us worried…
If Jurassic Park has taught us anything, we will now need working electric fences around the circuit…
This would be much more what-worthy if it is viewed without commentary or context
Is that you, Todd?
Righto mate
Straya as
Jesse Bryan getting lost in the paddock after bringing out the red flag in practice 5
NOT
1. Impatience with Traffic
Charles Weerts got impatient with the slower Ginetta at The Cutting and paid a hefty price in the pole sitting BMW, the first genuine casualty of the day. Also, points were lost for taking out the TV camera optic fibre, so we couldn’t watch the second half of his shunt. Up to that point, the leaders had been playing a really dicey game of chicken with the traffic, but Weerts was the first to come unstuck. Also: don’t litter.
2. The In-race Dramas
There were 13 safety car appearances for a total of 28 laps.
3. One percenters
Outside the wide range of in-race dramas, many little issues surfaced during the day – from simple rule oversights, to more significant foibles, the Mountain once again threw everything at the competition.
– Drive through for the GruppeM AMG for adjustments while refuelling at around hour three
– Drive through for number 46 for a blend line violation
– Drive through for Matt Campbell after a short pit stop, incorrectly taken under safety car, before being properly served again
– Two-minute penalty for Riccardo Feller for fencing the Matt Stone Racing IRC in the Esses
– Cars 47, 19, 111 and 20 took their wave around a lap early with 3hr45min remaining – they promptly received a two-minute penalty apiece
– Jonathon Webb received a one-minute penalty for clipping the MARC Mustang, which started the first Full Course Yellow in the history of the race
– GruppeM and Craft Bamboo PLP for stint length violations with 2hr5min to go. Daniel Juncadella in the latter car smacked the fence at Reid Park before being able to take the penalty
– Car 27, second in the Pro-AM class at the end of the safety car with 30min to go, weaved and received a PLP
– Plus, so many more…
4. The incredibly tough day for the bulk of the GT4 and Invitational runners
See: above.
5. Practice Wipe Outs
Sadly, the KTM was a scratching for race day, while the more repairable IRC GT machine had a miracle performed on it after pilfering the rear end out of a similar machine racing in the combined sedans.
6. Angus Fogg
A terrible end to the weekend for an incredible car. Fingers crossed this doesn’t completely derail the team’s plans to run in upcoming TCM and Sports Sedan events on this side of the Tasman. At the time of going to press, the car was being transported to Sydney for assessment.
7. Shootout Format
The different shootout format happens for a reason, as evidenced by how many laps it took for cars to get up to speed, but the feedback from the fanbase was that the longer form shootout this year fell a bit flat. Yep, single car single lap shootouts would be way slower than qualifying this way, but all of that focus on the one special lap, in terms of drama, is hard to replicate in any other means.
8. Second and third on the podium in the wrong order
9. Skippy 0 Vs Porsche 0
Ugly scenes in the Saturday afternoon Group S race when a pristine Porsche 911 comprehensively wore a kangaroo right around the area on the track where Dicky hit the rock. You’ve probably seen the pics on the internet; they don’t need to be repeated here.
10. Oooft
Centrepunched in the combined sedans
OTHER NOTS
Going too fast is a curse in the invitation class in qualifying…
People who draw dick and balls on everything. Grow up.
SOCIALS
Don’t forget to touch on and then touch off the bus at the end of your journey
It’s a good thought…
This is living, Barry
How do you caption this?
Sacre bleu!
Horse down!
Swift
Tokyo Drift
Fantastic
Final word
MEME
