Victory for the van der Lindes at Bathurst

Victory for the van der Lindes at Bathurst

Racetracks come in all shapes and sizes, but there are a few patches of tar around the world whose names evoke historic memories. Le Mans, Monaco, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the Isle of Man are all royal names in the racing hierarchy due to their unique yet iconic locations, but there is another that is considered more of an Australian treasure, which is brutal in every way, and it goes by the name of Bathurst.

On a normal day, Bathurst consists solely of a public road featuring incredibly long straights and a complex mountain section, which occasionally closes for some of the world's most thrilling racing events. Typically, Bathurst is known for Bathurst 1000, when Aussie V8 Supercars take on gruelling endurance races, filled with door-to-door action and massive accidents, and is about as Australian as Vegemite. Yet this weekend the events on Bathurst went green and gold thanks to the help of South Africa's fastest brothers.

Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour kicked off the 2025 WRT season. To add a touch of context to the scenario, Bathurst is somewhat of a home to Australian V8 Supercars due to its tight and twisty turns to challenge drivers and handling, paired with the power needed to challenge the massively long straights, but this time around, the GT3 cars took to the circuit, offering faster racing with an international spotlight. Drivers had 12 hours to drive as far as they could in teams of three. Historically BMW hasn’t found its synergy with the mountain track, with numerous outings and pole position starts without a single win, but this year that was set to change.

The sun was teasing the horizon as the cars crossed the start line to kick off the day's racing. The #77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG led the way over the start line with the #183 Jamec Racing/Team MPC Audi in tow. The #32 Team WRT BMW team proved to have impressive pace through the tighter sections of the track but fell slightly behind the AMGs and Audis in qualifying, but with a long race ahead, it was still very much anybody's race.

The opening lap defined a Bathurst race to perfection. As the cars exited the first corner, there was a three-abreast drive into one of the fastest corners on the track, allowing the WRT BMW to threaten first place, which is unusual for an endurance race's first lap. It wasn’t long before drama struck, as the leading #77 Mercedes found itself in the gravel only an hour into the event. This provided the WRT BMW some room to build a gap from the tailing #888 AMG before the first pit stop opportunity. Augusto Farfus put in a good first drive and managed to drive his BMW to first before his opening stint came to an end.

Four hours into the race, it was clear that the new drivers' were struggling to adapt to the complexity of the mountain's high-speed corners, and accidents became more frequent. It’s a race that is just as much a battle for survival, and the winners will need to not only provide serious pace but also exercise an element of smooth and sharp driving to avoid a disappointing fate.

Despite the length of the race, the halfway point revealed that it was still anybody's race, with the leading three cars chopping and changing positions through pit stops and near-endless yellow flags. One team that looked ever so hot out on track was the #26 Ferrari, which, although they were feeling out the scenes of its first Bathurst outing, was still comfortably in third through the mid-stage of the race. However, it struggled to keep up with the titanic battle ahead between Mercedes and BMW.

With two hours remaining, Sheldon van der Linde took control of the #32 car, leaving the pits behind the leading #77 AMG, but soon he was closing in. A pit stop for the #77 AMG gave him the lead, and the subsequent laps solidified his victory. He was rapidly pulling away from the pack, and after 30 mins behind the wheel, he had gained 11.48 seconds on second place. Kelvin took the wheel for the last hour of the race, and although the last pit stop forced the team into third, the lead two cars still needed to make their final stops.

Once the road ahead cleared for Kelvin, the BMW driver was unstoppable, gaining milliseconds a lap ahead of Lucas Auer and his AMG in second. This was a lead that was too strong to overthrow, and as the closing laps commenced, Kelvin wrangled his car through the mountain for the last time and brought home a long-overdue BMW victory thanks to the wickedly impressive drive from Augusto Farfus, Sheldon, and Kelvin van der Linde.

The word scrap is a harsh one and defines close, rough, and intense racing, and it’s a word that captures the essence of a Bathurst race. It was an intense outing this year. And one that makes every second count. It’s a race that prioritises both teamwork and engineering with long straights to stretch the cars legs and a technical section that challenges the driver on every lap. To win Bathurst is more than having a fast car, and our local legends displayed competence and execution with precision, providing an exciting start to their new season of racing, and this time it once again went green and gold.

To see the highlights of this monumental race, you can watch it here.

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