Bold headline: A record-smashing Bathurst 12 Hour race ends with an unlikely hero rising from the back of the pack to claim victory. But here’s where it gets controversial: the drama and strategy behind a 29th-place debut win will spark plenty of debate about pace, reliability, and the value of early setbacks.
Mercedes-AMG Team GMR stitched together a remarkableDrive from 29th on the grid to win the 2026 Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour, turning a rough start into a triumph that rewrote the event’s record books. The lineup of Maro Engel, Mikael Grenier, and Maxime Martin endured a mechanical issue at the very start and spent the day methodically climbing through the field, seizing the moment when a late-race restart rolled across Mount Panorama and altered the battle lines.
Their 29th-place launch smashed the previous record for the lowest starting position to win, which had stood at 11th on Bentley’s 2020 triumph. The race’s closing hour delivered edge-of-seat action, starting with the final BMW M Safety Car appearance of the day and a fierce on-track scramble involving Jayden Ojeda and Chaz Mostert that turned into a high-speed incident, ending Mostert’s hopes aboard the damaged #6 Mercedes and handing a dramatic turn to the field.
As the pit lane cycle reset, Kelvin van der Linde briefly led after a Safety Car window, with Mostert following suit, only for further incidents to reshape the order. A critical moment arrived when Maxime Martin seized the lead after a collision between van der Linde and Gounon, while the battle continued to intensify across the top positions. The closing minutes saw BMWs, Porsches, and a clutch of Bronze-class contenders jostling for position, with Max Hesse’s charge in Team KRC BMW pushing hard to challenge for fourth as the clock ticked down to ten minutes remaining.
In the end, the #888 Corvette team made it to the top of the podium by a narrow margin — just over a second ahead of the Porsche crew of Kerong Li/Anders Fjordbach/Boccolacci, who won Bronze. Farfus held on for third in the #46 Team WRT BMW, with Valentino Rossi returning to share the podium for the second straight year alongside Raffaele Marciello. Will Brown and Maxime Hesse completed the top five, with Hesse earning second in Bronze class aboard the #89 Team KRC BMW alongside Cunfan Ruan and Maxime Oosten.
The Pro-Am category crowned its winner in the #45 RAM Motorsport/GWR Australia Mercedes of Brett Hobson, Dylan O’Keeffe, and Garth Walden, who finished 13th overall, comfortably ahead of the class runner-up. The lone Invitational entry, the #111 111 Racing IRC GT driven by Darren Currie, Axle Donaldson, and Danny Stutterd, finished 25th, while Method Motorsport’s GT4 entry, the #42 McLaren driven by Adrian Kunzle, Kevin Madsen, and Steven Agakhani, placed just behind them in 26th.
Overall, the race delivered a blend of endurance-tested strategy, late-race chaos, and a historic victory that will be remembered for years to come. Would you call this the ultimate example of perseverance paying off at Bathurst, or do you think the late restart unfairly tipped the scales in favour of luck as much as skill? Share your thoughts in the comments.
