The 2015 Bathurst 12 Hour builds on previous success

Say what you will about the amount of caution flags and laps behind the Mercedes Benz safety car at Mt Panorama on Sunday, because at the end of the day no one will remember the first eleven and a half hours.

Not when the final half an hour was as gripping a segment of motor racing as I can remember seeing.

Last year’s duel between Craig Lowndes and Maxi Buhk to the flag was enthralling, but there’s something about a rank underdog – the number 10 Bentley of Matt Bell – holding off a pack of faster and more credentialed cars and drivers in pursuit of an unlikely victory that’s always been rather appealing to me.

There’s also something about watching a more favoured car come slicing through the pack to claim second place by Hell Corner and be in the lead of the race before the right-hander at Griffin’s Bend before pulling away to a race-winning advantage by the time the track swings around from Forrest’s Elbow onto Conrod Straight.

Not for the first time at Bathurst, we saw the turbo-charged power of the Nissan GTR on show, and watched a stunning drive, albeit one aided by a couple of late cautions that bunched the field together, from Katsumasa Chiyo. He scored Nissan’s first victory at the Mountain in more than 20 years. And what an impressive victory it was.

Perhaps the best thing for the continued growth of the endurance event, which is only into its fifth year of GT3-spec racing, is that the frenetic finish was just as good, if not better, than what we saw last year. And this year there weren’t so many famous Australian names behind the wheel. No Rick Kelly or Lowndes or Shane Van Gisbergen. Yet the racing, broken down into furious sprints between safety car periods for most of the day, was as good.

The finish was, too. In fact, it was exceptional, a classic last-gasp Bathurst win, but in a race that ran far longer than the 1000-kilometre distance that most Australians still associate with a Bathurst race.

Though not household names to most Australians, the sheer array of international talent on show around Mt Panorama last weekend was nothing short of jaw-dropping. It’s a sports car fan’s delight, and on our doorstep. All of them had good things to say, and Twitter was active with so many other drivers adding the Bathurst 12 Hour to their racing bucket list.

Much has been written about the clash between the V8 Supercar SuperTest and the 12 Hour this year, which robbed the endurance race of some of its more nationally recognised drivers, but it also helped bring new drivers to the mountain.

Apparently, the crowd didn’t seem to mind that most of their home-grown heroes weren’t in action, because, at about 32,000 across the weekend, the crowd was up 6000 on last year’s number. Based on what they saw at the end of the race, they’ll be back in 2016 – and will bring their friends.

Those who watched some or all of the 12-hour coverage on Channel Seven and 7Mate may consider making the pilgrimage to the Mountain next year. The partnership between the race and Channel Seven, who employed the Radio Le Mans team (and Australia’s excellent caller, Richard Craill) to cover the event has raised the bar yet again, and likely dragged in new eyeballs.

That’s never a bad thing. The coverage was sensational, and the presence of legendary sports car voices John Hindhaugh and Graham Goodwin at Bathurst further legitimises the event.

It really has been a meteoric rise for a race that was barely a blip on the sports car radar a few years back, and now attracts the best drivers and cars in the world.

Witness the finishing order, with seven different makes of car in the top seven spots: Nissan, Audi, Aston Martin, Bentley, Mercedes, Ferrari and Lamborghini. That’s an incredible line-up of factory or near-factory teams in any case, and to have all those makes in the top 10 is a brilliant advertisement for the race and for parity.

There’s a great sense of positivity where the future of the Bathurst 12 Hour is concerned, and with the race situated before the traditional start of racing in Europe – and between the twin North American endurance classics at Daytona and Sebring – the grid is poised for further growth next year.

With V8 Supercar drivers more likely to be available, and likely a deeper international field, race fans should be licking their lips in anticipation at what’s to come.

Roll on, 2016!