A post-qualifying penalty for a regulation breach saw their BMW M2 Competition entry demoted from pole to 63^rd on the starting grid but that wasn't going to be enough to stop the pair from surging right to the top of the field within two hours of race time.

However, Hill and Sargent lost their lead during a safety car period midway through the race to the BMW M3 entry of Brad Carr and Tim Slade, which would eventually lead to an intense battle between the two cars over the last hour of the event.

After the last set of compulsory pit stops Slade held a 51 second advantage over Hill but a safety car with 53 minutes to go would put the BMW M2 back within striking distance of the leader.

Upon the race's restart it took Hill very little time to catch up to Slade, but getting around him was a different story.

The pair diced for the race lead over the span of several laps inside the last 40 minutes of the race and eventually Hill made a dive down the inside on the entry into The Esses to take the lead with 22 minutes remaining.

From there Hill continued to extend the advantage, eventually taking the chequered flag with more than a seven second buffer over Slade.

The defending champion entry of Shane Smollen, Rob Rubis and Nick Percat took their BMW M4 for third place.

Hill was full of praise for the battle that Slade provided over the exciting final hour of racing.

"That last stint was pretty surreal. I cleared all the traffic in probably two laps and I could see him and I thought 'That's my man'," he said.

"With every lap he was five car lengths closer so I thought 'Yep, I'm going to get there but then I'm going to have to pass him'. To be fair to Tim, he didn't put a foot wrong and he made it very, very hard

"That's why I had to go for such an unorthodox move because he was probably expecting me at all the other places so I had to surprise him."

Hill said the pace of the BMW was exceptional from the moment it arrived in Bathurst.

"The car was beautiful to drive and I can't thank CHE Racing and my dad enough for all the hard work he put into the build," he said.

"It's just a dream. We always thought that this car could be an outright contender, and it's shown itself to be an absolute weapon."

The opening hour of Sunday's event saw a number of outright contenders fall by the wayside due to a range of mechanical issues.

The pole-sitting entry of Karl Begg, David Russell and Nash Morris came to a complete stop of pit straight, while the 2019 champion combination of Beric Lynton and Tim Leahey along with Will Davison had their hopes ended by a fuel pump issue.

The Go Karts Go family entry of Wayne, Drew and Aaren Russell was primed to fight for an overall podium finish when sitting third at the time of the final set of pit stops.

Unfortunately for the team the car cut out at the top of pit straight, leaving the Smollen-Rubis-Percat entry a path to the podium.

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