Penalties handed down on leading Porsche, BMW

THE drama has continued at the Repco Bathurst 12 Hour, with Manthey EMA Porsche and Team WRT BMW hit by penalties with five hours remaining.

The #912 Manthey EMA Porsche and #46 WRT BMW were first and second as the halfway mark approached.

However, both cars were handed penalties, with Matt Campbell (#912 Porsche) and Raffaele Marciello (#46 WRT BMW) dropping out of the top 10.

Ayhancan Güven led the race as a Safety Car was called over an accident for the Invitational class-leading #10 Matt Stone Racing IRC GT of John Holinger.

As cars pitted for wet Pirelli tires, Matt Campbell took over the lead Porsche. However, the #912 was hit with a drive-through penalty for completing a stop quicker than the 85-second minimum pit lane time.

Campbell served a drive-through penalty on the restart, having initially served it under a later Safety Car period, rejoining sixth behind the sister Pro-Am Porsche.

The subsequent Safety Car was called over an incident for Paul Tracy in the #702 Invitational IRC entry at the Cutting.

Manthey EMA, including Head of Porsche Motorsport Thomas Laudenbach, were seen in pit lane pleading their case that the penalty was correctly served. However, race officials stated the penalty must be served in race conditions. 

The controversial incident handed the lead to the #13 Phantom Global Racing Porsche of Bastian Buus, while still running behind the Safety Car.

Earlier, the #2 KFC Team MPC Audi was hit with a two-minute penalty due to Ricardo Feller’s contact with the #10 IRC. However, the #2 remained on the lead lap through the Safety Car periods.

When the race restarted, Race Control advised that the #46 WRT BMW — WRT’s only remaining car after Charles Weert’s crash — was found to have crossed the pit blend line.

Campbell emerged ahead of Marciello after the latter served his drive-through penalty.