‘Bentley Boys’ get off to great start
VICTORY: WIN BATHURST 12-HOUR RACE DOWN UNDER
SA driver wins Bathurst 12-hour race in Australia.
Australian race was a neck-and-neck thriller with three major crashes.
The Bentley Boys, with South Africa’s Jordan Pepper sharing his Continental GT3 with Frenchman Jules Gounon and Belgium’s Maxime Soulet, have won the Intercontinental GT Series opening Bathurst 12-hour in Australia.
The trio overcame a troubled Friday to qualify 10th and the No 7 Bentley was soon fighting for the lead, before taking a dramatic victory as the heavens opened on the Mount Panorama circuit.
“I have no words, honestly, the rain held off, that was ours to win!” a dancing Pepper said after the race. “The boys put in an amazing effort all weekend – it was so difficult for them on Friday and Saturday, so it was great to gift them a win. What a brilliant day!”
Pepper took the opening stint and was soon making places up into the top three, where the Bentley would basically remain throughout before the Bentley trio began an intriguing fourcar battle with a pair of AMG Mercedes driven by Shane van Gisbergen, Maxi Goetz, and Raffele Marciello; Maximilian Buhk, Felipe Fragaof; and Tom Blomqvist, Alvaro Parente and Ben Barnicoat’s McLaren.
The race was interrupted by three major crashes that saw the yellow flag flying as the Mount Panorama circuit devoured three more cars in the early hours over and above the three destroyed in practice. But the No 7 Bentley moved ahead after four hours, leading through the six- and ninehour marks too, albeit swapping the top spot with Mercedes and McLaren on the way.
The final three hours were dramatic as Gounon tussled with the AMG Mercedes driven by Italian Marciello and local Aussie ace van Ginsbergen.
A puncture dropped the Bentley behind the lead melee with just over an hour and a final pitstop to go under threatening skies.
Once the final round of stops played out, Gounon had a clear lead over Marciello and Van Ginsbergen, but both Mercedes then had punctures, allowing Blomqvist’s McLaren up to second ahead of Van Ginsbergen’s Mercedes after second man home Marciello had a pit lane penalty. Meanwhile, SA driver Kelvin van der Linde’s troubled 18th-placed Audi set the fastest lap.
Gounon took the flag almost immediately as heavy rain started.
It was sweet revenge for the Bentley, which had led the 2019 race only for a puncture to rob it of certain victory, but the 2020 win came with a record time. – Motorsportmedia.co.za