Ferrari victorious in dramatic Bathurst 12 Hour race

The Ferrari-based Maranello Motorsport team has won the Bathurst 12 hour race in New South Wales, Australia, one of the most prestigious endurance events to be staged in the southern hemisphere.

Australian driver Jamie Whincup had the honour of claiming the chequered flag, after impressive stints behind the wheel from his team mates Toni Vilander and Craig Lowndes.

"It’s been an amazing team effort,” Whincup declared after the finish. “I guess we had beginners luck today. To stand on the top step is a fantastic feeling."

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The team came under heavy pressure toward the end of the race from the Scott Taylor Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 team, which gambled on not changing tyres for Shane van Gisbergen's final stint in order to gain track position over the race leader.

Despite their rival's final desperate throw of the dice, the Ferrari 488 GT3 was still fast enough to reclaim the lead in plenty of time for the finish.

However van Gisbergen was then involved in a big accident when his Mercedes ran into the back of a lapped Porsche on the exit of The Chase. That put the Porsche into the wall and triggered a ten-minute safety car period, after which salt was rubbed into van Gisbergen's wounds when he was handed a drive-through penalty for causing the accident.

Before he could serve the penalty, van Gisbergen's day came to a premature end when he slammed into the wall going through The Esses, leaving his team mate Maro Engel fuming on the sidelines.

“I’ve got to watch out what I’m saying, but all I’ve seen this weekend is a lot of mistakes from Shane," he said. "It’s a tough one."

After the accident, second place was handed to the Competition Motorsports Porsche entry, after driver Matt Campbell himself survived a late crash and penalty from the stewards. Third place went to Bentley Team M-Sport with Steven Kane double-stinting to bring the car across the finish line.

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