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The BMW # 97 Prestige Connex. Image: Australian Racing Group
Shane van Gisbergen took a five-second penalty to claim victory in the Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour 2021 for himself, Shane Smollen and Rob Rubis.
With the penalty to be added to the # 97 Prestige Connex BMW M4’s race time for a restart violation, van Gisbergen had to try to get far enough ahead of the chasing group in a race littered with safety cars.
In the end, he took the checkered flag 12.8557s above the # 1 BMW M3 Bruce Lynton BM Service after 120 laps, making him the second person in history to win the Bathurst 1000, Bathurst 12 Hour and Bathurst 6 Hour.
For Tim Leahey and Beric Lynton, a second place by the official margin of 7.8557s represented a second podium in as many editions of the production enduro car after they won in 2019.
Sherrin Racing completed the podium courtesy of David Russell and Grant Sherrin in the BMW M4 No. 27, while Tim Slade and Bradley Carr combined for fourth place in Car Mods Australia’s BMW M3 No. 8 who suffered a litany of problems over the weekend.
However, the last of them could well have cost them a win given Slade had to pit from the lead at the end of a restart lap with just over an hour to go due to a second tire drama of the day.
Fifth overall and first in Class A2 went to the # 95 Miedecke Motor Group Ford Mustang owned by Brodie Kostecki, George Miedecke and Paul Morris.
The latter ended the race as the former suffered a smoke illness and, as did Van Gisbergen, had to put more than five seconds between himself and the next car to hold on to class honors from a time penalty.
It was the BMW M3 No. 1 that looked well placed when the race restarted for the seventh time with around two and a half hours to go.
Lynton was in sixth place, while Sherrin was tenth in the BMW No. 27 and van Gisbergen in eleventh place in the No. 97, which also comes out of Bruce Lynton’s stable.
Each of those last two were given another position as Carr followed the Safety Car into the lane, before van Gisbergen intercepted the # 27 BMW and four other cars over the next four laps.
When an eighth safety car arrived on lap 71, in the 218th minute, Lynton inherited the lead and second position from van Gisbergen, while Sherrin was seventh, with each of those three cars completing five pit stops out of six. mandatory for Class X.
Kostecki sat in ninth in the # 95 Mustang, with his four mandatory pit stops apparently made, while Slade was 17th in the # 8 BMW (X-Class).
A car on the lap protected Lynton for the lap 73 restart, but van Gisbergen cleared it before reaching Hell Corner and practically erased the approximately 1.7-second deficit before returning to the pit straight.
He made the move at The Chase on lap 74 and was 0.9 seconds up at the end of the next lap, by which time Sherrin had reached third position, albeit more than 15 seconds behind car # 97.
Van Gisbergen was 1.2 seconds clear when the ninth safety car was called up on lap 76, as Graeme Muir buried HSV # 18 (Class A2) at The Chase.
Lynton pitted from second and Kostecki from sixth during the caution that extended into the fifth hour of the procedure.
Under Safety Car, the top three were van Gisbergen, Sherrin and Tony Alford (Ford Mustang # 49 Racer, Class A2), with Slade sixth, Tim Leahey 11th in the No. 1 BMW and Morris 14th.
Van Gisbergen had three cars with laps behind him for the restart of lap 81 and was 10 seconds ahead of Sherrin once the latter had passed them at the end of the lap.
Slade passed Sherrin at Forrest’s Elbow on lap 82, while Leahey was third when he passed Sherrin at Murray’s Corner on lap 89.
Van Gisbergen had a 23-second lead at the time of the next safety car, on lap 93, to recover a lower-class car that had stopped at The Esses.
All contenders pitted, but Slade managed to jump Van Gisbergen into lane given it was the eighth pit stop for Car # 8.
So Slade led the field to another green flag on lap 96, but returned straight to the pits due to a second tire drama of the day and came out of the top 10.
Once again, van Gisbergen got a lead, but the 11th safety car of the race on Lap 100 erased the eight-second margin as one car stopped at The Chase and another hit the wall at Reid Park.
Behind van Gisbergen sat Leahey, then Russell and Morris, with Slade last on the lead lap in 12th position.
What would turn out to be the last restart came with about 40 minutes remaining in the competition, and van Gisbergen immediately hit back-to-back fast laps to get 2.5 seconds ahead of Leahey.
He lost margin in traffic, but surpassed the magic five-second marker on lap 109, by which time there were about 22 minutes left plus one more lap.
Van Gisbergen continued to build the lead and it was around 10 seconds when Leahey nearly slid against the wall as he descended towards Forrest’s elbow on lap 113, allowing Russell to get close to car # 1.
Russell, however, backtracked again due to traffic and there would be no change in podium positions for the remaining seven laps.
It was a different story behind them, as Slade cut the field to be fifth in the three laps after the restart.
When he came up behind Morris on lap 108, ‘The Dude’ decided to dodge him in the race to Reid Park, presumably with his sights set on the class battle when Coleby Cowham and Lindsay Kearns’ # 25 Greentech Gold Coast Ford Mustang appeared. behind. .
Slade faced a deficit of more than 22 seconds with Russell at the time, and that gap was very similar when they took the checkered flag.
Morris had more than eight seconds between him and the next Mustang after the 120th and final lap, meaning he had done enough to win his class and consign Cowham / Kearns to second in the A2 race.
A1-Class honors went to Michael Sheargold / Brett Hobson / Ollie Shannon in the # 45 Ram Motorsport / GWR Mercedes-AMG A45 in seventh place.
Rounding out the top 10 were Tony Alford / Kyle Alford’s Ford Mustang # 49 Racer Industries (A2 Class), Rod Salmon / Steve McLaughlan / Neale Muston’s # 6 Oneworld Charters Mercedes-AMG A45 (A1 Class), and the # 19 Shockwave signs Jimmy Vernon / Mark Griffith’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evo (A1-Class).
Results to follow
