In our continuing catch up from the 2014 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hours, we take a look at the race day in pictures.
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The dawn start soon gave way to a golden early morning sun. It was an indication of the very hot temperatures that would follow
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At 5:30am the horizon was starting to glow orange. The pitlane atmosphere was electric
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The Clearwater Ferrari team exits the pits. After their two previous performance resulted in a 3rd and 2nd, they had high hopes this year, but a heavy crash ended their hopes early on.
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Maro Engel prepares for a TV interview before the race
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It was still dark at the race start, with the sun coming up about 15 minutes into the race. It was prime feeding times for kangaroos. One entered the track and ended Peter Kox’s race. His third appearance at the Mountain – some five racing laps, all coming this year. He and the Lago team have no luck at the Mountain.
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The Nissan leads a train of cars through the esses. There were high hopes for the team but they were involved in the crash with Clearwater, which took the right rear off the car.
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The Audis suffered in the BoP stakes. The air restrictors hurt them much more than their competitors, hampering them on the long straights
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The Maranello car was quick but suffered two pitlane penalties. It was a fine fight-back from the team to put themselves in line for victory.
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The MARC Focuses made their debut at this race. A brilliant debut for the ambitious team in a car that would be at home in V8 Supercars.
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It looked like the #1 car would defend their title until mechanical issues at around 3/4 distance put them about 5 laps down
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Jack Le Brocq hit a kangaroo early in the race. It caused minor damage to his car while it eliminated Peter Kox. The luck of the draw.
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The McLaren was seriously fast and the Pirelli rubber lasted very well on this car. They finished fourth, taking the lap record – a lap that would have been good enough for pole. Driver, Van Gisbergen was on fire, but some of his moves were suspect and not really in the spirit of sportscar racing. However, he did not crash and – perhaps even more amazingly, the McLaren lasted the 12 Hours without issue.
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The Maranello car, while having some penlites ran faultlessly all race. The race held a lot of emotion for them and the crowd having lost their long time driver, Allan Simonsen and crew member throughout the year. During the race, John Bowe told Dailysportscar.com that the team would need a miracle to fight back to win. That is what they got, only just holding off the HTP Mercedes.
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After hitting a kangaroo, the #63 Erebus clashed with the Daytona Coupe, leaving the car looking a little second hand. The damage gave them a little more straight line speed but massive understeer. It needed all the cunning of the drivers to bring it home, particularly in the final periods racing against the McLaren.
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The HTP Mercedes team were unsure if they would make the race after a heavy crash in practice. They did, and in the race they fought back from two laps down. A couple of attempts for the lead didn’t happen but there was a very happy crew on the podium.
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By Sam Tickell, February 2014
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