IT was the one that got away for Audi.
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The #15 Phoenix Racing entry, which started the Bathurst 12 Hour from pole position, had looked the strongest car for the majority of the day but had to settle for second place when time was up.
Even before the day’s action the team had marked themselves as the ones to beat, thanks to a record 2:02.5521 qualifying lap from Laurens Vanthoor.
They had a lead as great as 40 seconds at one point in the opening hours, but as the day went on that lead was cut.
A combination of a warming track and multiple safety car periods didn’t play into the team’s hands.
Though they virtually never slipped out of the top five, they were knocked off the top for some time.
It wasn’t until the final few hours they regained the lead.
They started the final laps sitting second behind the #10 Bentley entry, but could only watch as Nissan’s Katsumasa Chiyo raced by them both with ease.
Vanthoor was pleased with the way his team – with co-drivers Markus Winkelhock and Marco Mapelli – were able to fight back from their mid-race slump.
“Obviously we were on the charge and we did well to get back to the front. We had good pace when we were out on our own and were coming out of the bends pretty quickly,” he said.
“Then after the restart we just lacked top speed and it’s created that fight ... Nissan came and pushed the R2 button a bit and there was nothing I could do,” he said in reference to the late-race pace from the winning Nissan GT-R entry.
The team would have had to settle for third, if not for Vanthoor’s bold outside move on the very last corner of the race.
“I was trying to fight then the last lap last corner was pretty exciting when we passed on Pit Straight. Matt Bell (Bentley) was on the inside and I thought I had nothing to lose, so I went on the outside,” he said.
Winkelhock admitted he had given up on the car getting by the Bentley in the final laps based on its performance on the straights.
“Especially in the morning when it was cold (the car had more pace). The car was pretty good then but when it was getting warm we were losing a lot of straight line speed,” he said. “Then there was no way to pass the others. Actually I knew in the end that Laurens had no chance, even if he could go a little bit faster.”
