IT was almost the ultimate redemption story.
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After being bumped from first to 12th on the starting grid, due to a technical breach in the manufacturer-supplied homologation documents, the #62 R-Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage set out on a Bathurst 12 Hour comeback mission.
In Sunday’s main race the team of Jake Dennis, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Marvin Kirchhoefer stayed clear of trouble and started to work their way back towards the front of the field.
As the final two hours arrived they found themselves one of the seven cars remaining on the lead lap.
Then, following the final safety car period of the day, they began the 30 minute green flag run to the chequered flag in first place.
With Dennis at the wheel – the man who had taken the car to pole position on Saturday – the team were hoping their older tyres could hold out a charging Matt Campbell in his Porsche 991.
It wasn’t to be as Campbell dove down the inside of Dennis at Forrest’s Elbow with less than 10 minutes to the finish.
Had the safety car not come out one last time (due to a stalled KTM X-Bow entry on Conrod Straight) then Dennis fancied his chances of holding his lead until the 12 hours were up.
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“I got annoyed when the safety car came out because I knew then that we would be up against it. We were on old tyres and I was trying to manage a few things in the car,” he said.
“I saw that Raffaele [Marciello, in second at the time] was also struggling and he was kind of my buffer and I was pulling away from him comfortably on those first couple of laps.
“Then I saw that Porsche coming like a rocket. He did a good move. We were both on the limit but he got it done.
“There was nothing I could do to get that position back. My tyres were finished and my brakes were finished.”
The Aston Martin team hit the lead for the first time at lap 157 and stayed there for 20 more loops of the Bathurst track until their next pit stop arrived.
From that point on the team never fell outside of the top eight and continued to shuffle up and down the order as garage’s adopted different pit strategies.
The #62 found the front again on lap 290 – inside the final hour – when the Bentley Motorsport #108 entry had to make its final pit stop.
To lose the way we did is hard to take but it’s been an incredible job by the whole team.
- Jake Dennis
Dennis might not have been able to hold onto that lead but he was happy for his team and co-drivers.
“If someone said to me that we were going to make the podium as a rookie team then I would have been happy,” he said.
“To lose the way we did is hard to take but it’s been an incredible job by the whole team. I have to thank them and my teammates.”