2018 Bathurst 12 Hour

The 2018 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour was a motor race for GT3, GT4 and invited cars, staged at the Mount Panorama Circuit, near Bathurst, in New South Wales, Australia on 4 February 2018. The 16th running of the Bathurst 12 Hour constituted the opening round of the 2018 Intercontinental GT Challenge Series. As per the previous year, the winners of the race were awarded the Australian Tourist Trophy.

The event was declared 10 minutes before the finish of the event after a 3 car incident, involving the #95 Eastgate Engineering MARC Focus, the #69 Supabarn Audi R8 LMS and the #19 Daimler Trucks Brisbane Mercedes-AMG GT3, marking the first time in the Bathurst 12 Hour history that the race was declared before the time cut-off.

51 cars were entered and 50 cars started, with one entry withdrawn following a crash in practice.

The race was won by Robin Frijns, Stuart Leonard and Dries Vanthoor driving an Audi R8 LMS.

Cars competed in the following four classes.

Chaz Mostert led Frédéric Vervisch into Hell Corner as the race started, but there was chaos at the back of the pack as John Goodacre in the Ford Focus-bodied MARC Car was spun on the exit of the Chase, clouting the barrier and requiring a Safety Car after less than half a lap. As the race is restarted, Mostert sprints away from the pack at qualifying pace, aided by Vervischs' struggles as he is passed by Melbourne Performance Centre team-mate Christopher Haase before engaging in a ferocious battle with underdog Luke Youlden in the Peregrine Corporation Lamborghini Gallardo.

As the sun rises the Class B leaders strike trouble – first Ben Barker in the Grove Racing entry receives a drive-through penalty for a Safety Car restart breach, before Chris van der Drift suffers a puncture-induced spin at the Chase in the Carrera Cup Asia entry, pulling off all the windscreen tear-offs in the process. The #100 Steven Richards Motorsport BMW had been sent to the back of the grid for exceeding maximum boost pressure in qualifying; by the end of the opening hour Timo Glock had stormed past the lower classes and tail-end GT3 contenders. At the front of the field, disaster struck for Youlden as he clashed with the lapped Class B Porsche of Aaron Zerefos exiting Griffins' Bend – resulting in suspension damage for the former and a puncture for the latter.

A battle began to form between Jeroen Bleekemolen, Maximilian Buhk and Tristan Vautier – Bleekemolen made a move on 2014 runner-up Buhk into Griffins Bend, before Vautier attempted to follow the Dutchman through. Vautier clashed doors with the German, sending the Strakka Racing Mercedes bouncing off the tyre wall and into the pits with steering damage. After 75 minutes the opening round of pit-stops commenced, Mostert double-stinting the lead car as the Pro-Am/Am entries began plugging their Bronze drivers in to commence their required 100 minutes of driving time. Swede Alexander West was one such driver, taking over from Scott McLaughlin in the YNA McLaren – however he was back in the lane not long after with electrical problems.