It was the longest race Bathurst 12 Hour to date, so there was no doubt that #888 Mercedes-AMG driver Maximilian Goetz felt the intensity of it all at the end of 12 hours of driving.
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The German driver, who also finished third in the 2019 edition alongside Maximilian Buhk and Raffaele Marciello in the #999 Mercedes-AMG Evo, said he was flat out on every lap he drove.
"This was one of the hardest things in my whole entire life and career," he said after the race.
"I was disappointed because I lost some places, but in the end I tried everything."
Goetz described the 12 Hour as "intense".
"I was flat out on every lap and it was an intense race," he said.
"I did the start, which was pretty good. We had good pace in the beginning of the race so I could get the lead in my second stint.
"I was fighting with an unloaded weapon, I would say, with used tyres in my last stint. The others around me had new ones and I was fighting a lot, but I think I managed well."
While teammate Shane van Gisbergen drove his team to the quickest time in the fourth and final practice session on Friday, he couldn't back up his performance on Saturday, finishing 10th in qualifying.
But he took his chance in the top 10 shootout to jump up two positions to start Sunday in eighth.
The team had actually finished fourth, but after #999 Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing received a 30 second post-race penalty for a pit procedure infringement, the Team Triple Eight Race team were bumped up to a podium position.
Goetz's co-driver Jamie Whincup said the week was "crazy".
"I've never seen so many wrecked cars in all my life," said.
"It just shows the competition that's going on - you can't just dawdle around in the middle of the track and expect a result, everyone's pushing the limits and we saw a few go over.
"Our race today, we didn't quite have the pace."
Whincup was in the same car as van Gisbergen in 2019, with their team - Mercedes-AMG Team Vodafone - just missing out on a podium in fourth.