After years of being the hard luck story of the race, Bentley finally brought home their first ever victory at the 2020 Bathurst 12 Hour.
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As the rain threatened the mountain for a good two hours finally fell, Jules Gounon at the #7 Bentley crossed the finish line to the cheers of his teammates Maxime Soulet, Jordan Pepper and all the Bentley Motorsport team after five years of trying.
Pumping the air in the cockpit of his car and overcome with emotion, Gounon was ecstatic with the win.
"Overall it was an amazing race," Gounon said.
On his in lap for the final pit stop, the rear left tyre blew travelling at over 270km/hr down Conrod Straight, somehow holding onto the car. The team prayed that the tyres could hold on for the rest of the race.
"It was really tense at the end because I had a puncture at the end of my last stint, so the team was also really scared and I was trying to do all I could to keep the tyres good, staying off the curbs and bringing it home, Gounon said.
"It was really amazing for us, as it was five years of us trying. I think the new cars show the improvement from last year, so it was an important win for us."
Debuting five years ago, Bentley's win came after plenty of heartbreak and Soulet couldn't be prouder.
"It's a huge relief for Bentley and for M-Sport and I'm so happy," Soulet said.
"It's not always easy, but we got along really well and I'm grateful to be racing with these two."
The #60 59Racing McLaren overcame pit lane penalties to come home in second position and Triple Eight rounded off the podium in third, scoring a surprise podium after the #999 Mercedes was demoted off the podium after a pit stop infringement.
A race that broke the distance record with 314 laps, Bentley stayed out front when their rivals hit trouble, especially the dramas that happened in the final hour.
After being in reach of podium positions, both the #18 KCMG Nissan and the #77 Craft-Bamboo Black Falcon Mercedes pitted in the final half hour with issues.
Thunderstorms loomed for most of the afternoon with dark clouds and dust flying across the circuit, but the expected rain didn't fall until after the checkered flag had been waved.
In the 12 hours, only five safety cars were required, with long green flag runs summing up this race.
The record for the longest green flag period was reset at four hours, 11 minutes and 41 seconds.
Starting in the pitch black, Maximilian Buhk in the #999 Mercedes made a dream start, jumping from third on the grid to the lead by the first corner and held the lead for 20 minutes until the #60 McLaren made an impressive move at The Chase.
Pole sitter Patrick Pillet quickly dropped to fourth after the start however ran consistently up the front all day, the only hiccup being a deflated rear tyre around the fifth hour mark, eventually coming home in fifth position.
The first safety car of the day was deployed at the 90 minute mark for a big crash for Come Ledogar in the #188 Aston Martin at Skyline.
Taking a bit too much kerb, the Frenchman lost control and speared into the outside concrete wall on approach to the dipper, with heavy damage to the blue and white machine.
Only 20 minutes later, Julian Westwood reportedly clipped the inside wall on approach to the Dipper and also hit the outside wall, ending the day for the #6 Wall Racing Lamborghini, the first Wall Racing DNF at the 12 Hour since 2008.
After starting from pit lane, the #8 Bentley recovery was cut short in the 10th hour when a puncture caused a spin at the Dipper. The car was then retired after running in the top seven for most of the day.
History sadly repeated itself for Audi for the second year in a row with a tough day for Audi Sport Team Valvoline. Garth Tander crashed heavily early in the morning after losing control at McPhillamy Park attempting to drive around teammate Dries Vanthoor.
The #222 Audi's day looked promising after a great stint by Marcus Winklehock, holding station in the top two. Two tyre failures however, one at The Chase and one at McPhillamy Park took them out of contention and finished 18th six laps down.
Suffering a faulty sensor in the engine, the #2 Audi also retired from the race.
Chaz Mostert's chances of a good result aboard the Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW alongside Augusto Farfus and Nicky Catsburg were all but ended when they hit a kangaroo a third of the way into the race. The car was worked on and sent back out but was eventually retired.
The #4 Grove Porsche won the Pro/Am class and rounded out the top 10 overall, and the #59 59Racing McLaren in the Silver class amazingly won class honours and 8th in the overall standings.
In the two car GT4 battle, the #13 RHC Jorgensen/Strom BMW took the victory and in a tough weekend for the MARC cars in the Invitational class, Nick Percat, Broc Feeney and Aaron Cameron in the #91 Scandia MARC II Mustang took the spoils in class and 15th overall.
Seven cars finished on the lead lap with 23 finishing overall.
