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Race Recap: 2013 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour race a feast of water, wrecks and yellow flags

Jonathon Ramsey — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:30:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Australia, Racing

For the last two years, Audi has won what's called "The ultimate Aussie endurance race," the Bathurst 12-Hour event at Mt. Panorama, reverentially known as "The Mountain." It did so with factory-backed versions of the R8 LMS Ultra and factory-backed drivers sent over for the sole purpose of taking the checkered flag at the 3.861-mile course and then taking the silverware back to Ingolstadt.

Erebus Motorsport, owned by property developer Betty Klimenko, is 18 months old. You've read about Erebus in news about the V8 Supercar season, the team engaging in some international intrigue so it could run Mercedes-Benz E63 AMGs against Holden, Ford and Nissan which also in the series. It took second in last year's Bathurt 12-hour race, and Klimenko said that this year they'd win it.

They'd have to get past Phoenix Motorsport, the Audi team that's taken two wins on the trot. Phoenix had different drivers this year, but the team still had race-winning experience and there were six other R8 LMS Ultras in the field with customer racing support, and we're still talking about Audi, a juggernaut going up against a team that, were it human, would barely be old enough to talk.

It was a crazy day on the mountain that would decide the day.

Continue reading Race Recap: 2013 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour race a feast of water, wrecks and yellow flags

Race Recap: 2013 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour race a feast of water, wrecks and yellow flags originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Audi R8 LMS remains king of the mountain with second straight victory at Bathurst 12 Hour

Drew Phillips — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:40:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Audi, Australia, Racing

Audi has yet another race trophy to place in its awards cabinet after claiming the overall victory at the Bathurst 12 Hour race in Australia this past weekend for the second straight year. The win was achieved by the Phoenix Racing team, which also campaigns an Audi in Germany's DTM series.

Like any endurance race, the victory didn't come easily for Audi. Heavy rains and fog made for difficult racing conditions through much of the 12 hours, and a spin in the leading Audi R8 LMS temporarily relegated it back to third place. By the time the checkered flag waved, though, the Audi was back in front and beat out the second place Mercedes SLS GT3 by just over a minute.

The win at Bathurst is just the latest of many for Audi and its privateer-run R8 LMS race cars, marking the 119th time the car has claimed victory since it was introduced three years ago. The R8 LMS has been particularly successful over the last year, having also won the 24 hours races at Spa and Zolder as well as the GT3 class at the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

Click past the jump for a full recap of the race via the official press release from Audi.

Continue reading Audi R8 LMS remains king of the mountain with second straight victory at Bathurst 12 Hour

Audi R8 LMS remains king of the mountain with second straight victory at Bathurst 12 Hour originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Eric Bana confirmed for Bathurst 12 Hour

Jonny Lieberman — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:57:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Sedan, Performance, Mitsubishi, Australia, Celebrities

Ask the typical gearhead what race they most want to attend and you'll probably here something about the 24 Hours of Le Mans (with a couple of mental patients no doubt pining for the 24 Hours of LeMons). Awesome race, great movie, viva la France and all that, but let's be honest. Le Mans has become so concerned with something called "safety" that they chicaned the Mulsanne Straight! As any fan of the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe will tell you, "Boo!"

Now consider how they do things down unda. Recently, in the interest of safety, officials decided to limit fans of the Bathurst 1000 to 24 cans of beer per day. Not to be all low brow, but that's our kind of racing. And we think we'd like the Bathurst 12 Hour enduro quite a bit, too. And not because movie star Eric Bana is set to run it in a Mitsubishi EVO X - again.

The star of good movies like Chopper and Munich (and the face of bad films like Troy and Hulk) is returning to the Bathurst 12 to attempt to improve upon his team's 10th place overall finish. No stranger to motorsports (those familiar with his excellent car love epic Love the Beast know this), Bana has done quite a bit of racing, including several Targa Tasmania events, a Porsche GT3 Challenge and the Australian GT Championship.

Along with his teammates Tim Leahey and Peter Hill, Bana will be re-campaigning the same Mitsubishi EVO X. With more than 50 cars set to take the grid, improving upon last year's results will prove difficult. Of course, that's why they race. The Bathurst 12 Hour will take place February 12-14.

[Source: Car Advice]

Eric Bana confirmed for Bathurst 12 Hour originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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