Hill/Sargent win Bathurst 6 Hour from 61st

Cameron Hill and Tom Sargent have delivered the performance of a lifetime to win the Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour from the rear of the grid.

Having been excluded from a qualifying session in which they had taken pole for a ride height breach, Sargent made rapid progress in the opening half-hour.

Fast forward five hours and it was Hill engaging with Tim Slade (#8 co-driving with Bradley Carr) in an epic tussle for the lead in the run to the flag.

The #147 BMW M2 Competition had been the class of the field from Saturday morning onwards, and that pace combined with two fresh tyres had Hill reeling Slade in at a rate of knots once the final Safety Car period ended with approximately 43 minutes remaining.

But Slade used every ounce of experience from more than a decade in the Supercars Championship to hang on for dear life at the front.

Corner after corner for almost 10 minutes, Hill looked for a way by Slade to no avail.

The Triple Eight Race Engineering Super2 driver poked the nose up the inside of Slade at Hell Corner with 22 minutes to go, only for the veteran to somehow stay ahead once more by the time they reached Griffins Bend.

Hill finally forced his way by with a bold move at Skyline later that lap, Slade taking to the run-off area and having to settle for second.

From there, the CHE Racing car cruised to victory, taking the chequered flag with 7.4651s in hand to seal the youngsters’ place in Mount Panorama history, upstaging the many big names up and down the field.

Rounding out the podium was Nick Percat/Rob Rubis/Shane Smollen in the 2021-winning BMW M4, who hung on resolutely as others fell by the wayside.

A dramatic first half-hour took a number of front-runners out of contention including the #23 of Will Davison/Tim Leahey/Beric Lynton (fuel pump failure), the #27 of Grant and Iain Sherrin (electrical issues), the #40 of David Russell/Nash Morris/Karl Begg (fuel pressure), and #4 of Anton De Pasquale/Anthony Soole/Adam Burgess.

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The race settled down from there, just six Safety Car periods across the six hours compared to 11 seen last year.

There were a number of near misses in the final third of the race, with the #49 of Tony Alford facing the wrong way at The Cutting, and likewise not long after the #48 of Keith Bensley at The Dipper.

In both instances, the awkward situations had been created by contact with the #140 of Mark and Michael Caine, but both managed to eventually get going again without requiring a Safety Car intervention.

However, the most spectacular of all was when Percat somehow managed to thread the needle in avoiding the stricken #84 Volkswagen Scirocco after it had come unstuck across the top of The Mountain.

A sixth Safety Car finally did arrive with approximately 53 minutes remaining when the #15 Holden HSV SS stopped on the side of Mountain Straight.

Crucially, that period came shortly after the front-runners had completed their final stops, and just as it had emerged that Slade had a potential problem in having taken less fuel than desired for the last stint.

While the Safety Car whittled down Slade’s margin from more than 50 seconds to the vicinity of 10 seconds over Hill, it did allow the two-time Supercars race winner to get back on the right side of the fuel tightrope.

That gap had been created by a savvy strategy that saw Slade/Carr complete their six compulsory pit stops – each requiring a minimum 120-second transit of the lane – well before their rivals, allowing for a splash and dash to the flag.

But armed with two fresh tyres, Hill quickly ate into that buffer once the race went green again, setting consecutive lap records (the best of which being a 2:24.7482s) to get within four seconds of the lead.

Percat picked his way through traffic to keep Hill somewhat on his toes, although clearly not enjoying the same pace of the lighter BMW M2 Competition model.

A grandstand finish was set up as the sun set with less than one second separating the leaders into the final half-hour, Slade with track position but Hill with superior speed.

Behind, the A1 entry of Dylan O’Keeffe/Mike Sheargold/Ollie Shannon ran a stunning race to hold outright fourth – the last car on the lead lap.

Fifth went to the Russell family effort as father Wayne combined with sons Aaren and Drew.

With Aaren at the wheel, the #58 had shaped as a victory contender before running out of fuel right on the five-hour mark, requiring his crew to push them the length of the pit lane.

Next was another family line-up of Steven, Dalton and Tristan Ellery, which recovered nicely from the latter glancing the wall earlier in the afternoon, having initially run with the lead pack.

Seventh through 10th went to Ben Kavich/Michael Kavich, Grant Denyer/Tony Quinn, Ben Bargwanna/Jude Bargwanna, and Paul Loiacono/Dieter Holzl/Alex Holzl.

The Local Legends Ford Mustang driven by Denyer and Quinn was the A2 class winner.

Other class winners were: Jake Camilleri/Scott Nicholas (Class C, 11th outright), Matthew Forbes-Wilson/Mark Mallard (Class B, 15th), Jaylyn Robotham/Brett Parrish/Mitchell Wooller (Class D, 18th), and Andrew McMaster/Dave Worrell (Class E, 34th).

In total, 49 cars were still running at the flag, although 27 of those were 10 or more laps behind the outright winners.

Results: Race, Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour

Pos	Car	Class	Sponsor	Drivers	Car	Laps	Race time
1	147	X	Tegra Australia	T.Sargent/C.Hill	BMW M2 Competition	130	06:00:50.6259
2	8	X	Car Mods Australia	B.Carr/T.Slade	BMW M3	130	06:00:58.0910
3	1	X	Prestige Connex	S.Smollen/R.Rubis/N.Percat	BMW M4	130	06:01:13.6242
4	45	A1	RAM / GWR	M.Sheargold/D.O’Keeffe	Mercedes AMG	130	06:02:44.2964
5	58	X	Go Karts Go	W.Russell/D.Russell/A.Russell	BMW M3	129	06:01:22.9077
6	99	X	Bruce Lynton BM Service	S.Ellery/T.Ellery/D.Ellery	BMW M3	128	06:01:50.3026
7	92	X	YELLOW PAGES Race For A Cure	B.Kavich/M.Kavich	BMW M2 Competition	128	06:02:52.4990
8	7	A2	Local Legends	T.Quinn/G.Denyer	Ford Mustang Mach 1	128	06:02:58.2340
9	71	A1	Bargwanna Motorsport	B.Bargwanna/J.Bargwanna	Audi TTRS Plus	127	06:01:08.2756
10	14	A1	Forklogic – Access & Forklift	P.Loiacono/D.Holzl/A.Holzl	Mitsubishi Lancer EV	127	06:01:49.2273
11	360	C	Grand Prix Mazda Caboolture	J.Camilleri/S.Nicholas	Mazda 3 MPS	126	06:02:53.9275
12	26	A1	Infinium Advisory	C.O’Brien/B.Wilkinson	BMW M135i	125	06:01:06.2680
13	90	X	KELAIR	D.West/T.D’Alberto	Holden HSV VF	125	06:01:34.9064
14	56	A1	Kelso Electrical	B.Schumacher/S.Pires	Subaru WRX STi	125	06:02:32.0852
15	73	B	Creme Insurance/FWG Contractin	M.Forbes-Wilson/M.Mallard	Holden SSV 6.0	124	06:01:16.5469
16	84	C	AC Store / CP Dental	J.Hay/P.Ansell/C.Holland	VW Scirocco	123	06:02:56.6832
17	77	A1	Irwin Packaging	J.Winter/B.Everitt	Mitsubishi Lancer EV	122	06:01:48.0608
18	54	D	Cars4uS / BPRO	B.Parrish/M.Wooller/J.Robotham	Toyota 86 GTS	122	06:03:11.4263
19	39	D	Bow Wow Dog Treats / MGA Insur	H.Clark/S.Aho	Subaru BRZ	121	06:01:04.7803
20	3	A2	Rowell Logistics P/L	N.McLeod/C.McLeod/A.Cameron	Ford Mustang Mach 1	121	06:01:05.6794
21	119	D	Arrow Transport Repairs	C.Roberts/L.Bloxsom	Toyota 86 ZN	121	06:01:18.0972
22	186	A1	Westvic Earthmoving	R.Braune/T.Moloney	BMW M135i	121	06:01:47.1744
23	47	C	OnTrack Motorsport	J.Fitzgerald/G.Mennell/A.Zerefos	BMW 130i	120	06:01:31.9797
24	55	A1	SSR Selected Smash Repairs	F.Mammarella/S.Green	Mitsubishi Lancer Ev	120	06:01:55.6171
25	121	D	Disc Brakes Austalia DBA	J.Walsh/B.Crossland	Honda Integra Type R	119	06:01:11.5860
26	11	D	11 Racing	M.Dowsett/B.McDonald/M.Maddren	Subaru BRZ	119	06:01:24.7453
27	23	X	Bruce Lynton BM Service	B.Lynton/T.Leahey/W.Davison	BMW M3	119	06:01:45.5799
28	17	D	Mischs Excel Garage	M.McGarry/S.Nowickyi/J.Wanzek	Toyota 86 GTS	119	06:02:20.7905
29	140	A1	Showtell – Massel Racing	M.Caine/M.Caine	BMW 1M	119	06:03:16.3590
30	29	A2	Penrite Racing	D.Forrest/P.Razum	Holden HSV Clubsport	118	06:00:59.5875
31	49	A2	Visions Estates	T.Alford/K.Alford	Ford Mustang Mach 1	117	06:01:02.4607
32	80	C	RX8 Cup	R.Shaw/T.Shaw/D.Cox	Mazda RX-8	117	06:01:50.1468
33	48	A2	ASAP Marketing Pty Ltd	S.Gore/K.Bensley/S.Owen	Lexus RC F	117	06:03:05.3903
34	2	E	LAN Installations	A.McMaster/D.Worrell	Mazda 3 SP25	116	06:03:03.9267
35	86	D	Battlers to Bathurst	T.Denovan/R.Boaden/A.Sarkis	Toyota 86 GTS	116	06:03:42.2905
36	33	A1	Ranger Lifting	A.McGill/J.Bowe	Ford Falcon GT-F	114	06:02:23.7384
37	666	A2	Triple 666 Racing	R.Coulthard/T.Symonds	Holden HSV VE	114	06:02:38.1676
38	255	E	Champ Suzuki Racing Team	I.Cowley/M.Thewlis/D.Bailey	Suzuki Swift Sport R	111	06:01:29.2775
39	50	D	MWM Racing	J.Keene/M.Sloss/T.Needham	Mini R56	111	06:03:08.8493
40	13	C	Osborne Motorsport	C.Osborne/R.Bates	Renault Megane 265	110	06:02:55.8174
41	355	E	Champ Suzuki Racing Team	I.Aplin/A.Sharma/K.Buccini	Suzuki Swift Sport R	109	06:01:29.3600
42	35	E	Road To Bathurst	P.Alexander/S.Freestone/M.Ricketts	Mazda 3 SP25	108	06:01:02.2516
43	36	D	Brown Davis Racing Products	J.Holloway/M.Holloway/D.Brown	Toyota Celica SX	102	06:01:01.4421
44	4	X	Property Investment Store	A.Soole/A.Burgess/A.de Pasquale	BMW M4	102	06:01:52.0250
45	151	A2	Casey Accident Repairs	T.Lindorff/A.Lowndes	Holden HSV VE	99	06:01:51.2175
46	44	A2	Nolan Finishes	D.Clift/A.Heffernan	Holden HSV R8 Clubsp	94	06:02:55.0998
47	15	B	Air and Allied Sales Pacific	S.Cox/P.Bray/M.Rosser	Holden HSV SS	87	06:02:20.5271
48	10	C	Racer Industries	P.McLeod/B.McLeod/B.Giblin	Holden HSV Astra VX-R	84	06:02:48.2835
49	155	E	Champ Suzuki Racing Team	M.Hopp/D.Natoli	Suzuki Swift Sport R	48	06:02:51.1732
DNF	171	A1	Team Buccini Racing	P.Buccini/B.Paine/J.Johnson	BMW M135i	116	05:45:40.7672
DNF	41	A2	Manteufel Constructions	G.Beggs/J.Manteufel	Holden HSV R8 Clubsp	106	05:24:50.4671
DNF	24	A1	Airtag / GWR Australia	G.Walden/M.Auld/T.Everingham	Mercedes AMG	93	04:55:28.7469
DNF	20	C	Gold Coast Embroidery – ozEtee	R.Lacey/M.Mravicic/P.Lacey	VW Scirocco	87	04:32:57.6239
DNF	9	A1	Parramatta Vehicle Services	H.Morrall/T.Mecklem	Mitsubishi Lancer EV	81	05:45:21.2421
DNF	27	X	Sherrin Rentals	G.Sherrin/I.Sherrin	BMW M4	72	03:37:25.6833
DNF	21	X	Secure Wealth Advisers	S.Hodges/J.Ojeda	BMW M4	64	05:25:21.1743
DNF	222	A1	Harding Performance	C.Yucel/I.Salteri	Volkswagen Golf R	61	03:03:13.4005
DNF	118	A1	D A Campbell Transport	D.Campbell/C.Crick	Mitsubishi Lancer EV	52	02:34:07.8242
DNF	777	A1	Pomelo Designs/Brypar	M.Boylan/L.Gibbons	Mitsubishi Lancer EV	48	02:21:49.2389
DNF	19	A1	One World / Griffith Corp	M.Griffith/R.Salmon	Mercedes AMG	44	02:11:33.8049
DNF	40	X	Btuned Euro Specialist	Karl Begg (QLD)	BMW M4	5	00:17:40.6186