In a race riddled with safety car interventions it was the single car outfit of Nissan Motorsport piloted by Florian Strauss, Katsumma Chiyo and Wolfgang Reip who took victory in the 2015 edition of the Liqui-Moli Bathurst 12 Hour race.
The circuit, renowned for incidents involving local wildlife, lived up to its reputation early on in proceedings with the first of many safety cars called in just half an hour into the race when the sole BMW GTR struck a kangaroo on the infamous Conrod Straight where the cars reached speeds of up to 300kph.
Having started from third position, the Nissan Motorsport crew were immediately on pace holding second place throughout the opening stages of the race. However, a close call on lap 31 nearly brought an end to their race when Peter Conroy swerved to miss a slowing Lamborghini, right into the path of Reip.
Craig Baird’s challenge for the trophy took an early blow when expat New Zealander Steven Richards found himself facing the wrong way on the exit of the Chase.
The Kiwi challenge took another backwards step when one of the faster class-A Porsches collided heavily with New Zealand Class-B competitors GT3 Motorsport at Forest Elbow. With substantial cosmetic damage sustained in the incident, the GT3 Motorsport team set to work to repair the 997, returning to the fray later in the race.
Trass Family Motorsport’s run of bad luck began late in the second hour when the Ferrari 458 piloted by Jono Lester, John McIntyre and Graeme Smyth received a tap from behind by the JBS Lamborghini. Smyth then made an unexpected pit stop when the unseeded driver began to feel sick.
“It didn’t start very well for me. I jumped in the car and after half an hour began to feel sick. Just under the safety cars I think the carbon monoxide gasses were getting to me” Smyth said.
After spending a short period of time at the medical centre, Smyth returned for another stint in the Ferrari, however, his bad luck would continue when a flat tyre forced him to pit once again for an unscheduled stop.
“It was all going good, we were sitting seventh until I got a flat tyre at the top of the Mountain. On the race restart after the safety car the car felt good, but when I turned in to turn one I thought it felt a little bit strange.
“After that I was a little bit mindful for the rest of the lap, but when I got to the top of McPhillamy the car just let go on the kerb.”
Baird’s chances of challenging for an overall win came to an end at the halfway mark when his Lamborghini stopped on Mountain Straight, retiring from the race due to a cracked gearbox.
After a short stint out of the car Smyth returned for a second time but his luck only got worse as the left front wheel parted company with his Ferrari 458 GT3, forcing him to take the escape road.
“I came into the final corner and jumped on the brakes. It felt like the left front wall locking up, but it wasn’t slowing down.
“I was heading straight for the wall, and then I realised that something had failed on the left front. At that stage I didn’t know that the wheel was missing – so it was either head straight for the wall or veer right down the escape road. Fortunately I managed to slow it up and then watch the wheel carry on into the car park.”
The TFM Ferrari eventually returned to the race several laps down, but later retired towards the completion of the race due to a technical drama which resulted in oil spilling from the vehicle.
Following nineteen safety car periods, the 20th and final full course caution came out with just ten minutes to go as Ben Barker spun on his own at the final corner, beaching his Grove Racing Porsche in the gravel trap.
With the Bentley Motorsport Continental at the front of the field and the Phoenix Racing Audi in second, the Nissan GTR only had a few laps to make a challenge for the lead.
As the race returned to green running Chiyo made a manoeuvre on the Phoenix Racing Audi on the front straight to take second place. With just two laps remaining and Chiyo hounding the rear of the leading Bentley, the Nissan driver made a move for the lead up Mountain Straight, completing the pass then cutting across the circuit to prevent the Bentley from diving down the inside.
Chiyo then streaked away with the win winning by three seconds over the Phoenix Racing Audi followed by the Craft Bamboo Racing Aston Martin which moved past the ailing Bentley in the closing stages of the race.
Kiwi Chris Pither ended the 12 Hour feature event in eleventh overall to come home the best of the New Zealand contingent for this years race. Matt Halliday came home fourteenth overall despite a scary moment at the 280kph Chase, the Fitzgerald Racing Audi skipping over the top of the gravel trap lucky not to roll.
