Hitting numbers: The fuel moves that won the 2025 race

ACCORDING to Kelvin van der Linde, Sunday’s Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour was all about "saving fuel and hitting numbers."

While there were eight Safety Car periods and plenty of incidents and drama, van der Linde was right, with a thrilling strategy race unfolding at Mount Panorama.

Van der Linde led home a one-two finish for BMW Team WRT in the Intercontinental GT Challenge season opener, with the #32 beating the sister #46 and #75 75 Energy Mercedes-AMG.

Both WRT BMW M4 GT3s, along with the #75 Mercedes-AMG, stretched their fuel to take on one less stop than their key competition.

The #32 car of Kelvin van der Linde/Sheldon van der Linde/Augusto Farfus led for much of the day, but they also had the best fuel mileage in the field, which proved crucial. Remarkably, the #32's fuel surge turned on when Kelvin drove to the podium, just seconds after taking the chequered flag.

Speaking after the race, Kelvin explained how, amid the early carnage, Sunday's race became a fuel race.

“You’re [normally] driving balls to the wall for 12 hours, making the moves happen," the South African explained.

“Today was a completely different race. It was a race of saving fuel and [hitting] numbers, basically. The last stint was pretty tricky having a number in my ear. Otherwise we wouldn’t have made it to the finish.”

Stretching it out

The #32, #46 and #75 made their last stops on lap 272, 275 and 275 respectively.

The cars in fourth through sixth, the #26 Arise Racing Ferrari, #77 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG and #911 Absolute Racing Porsche, made their second-to-last stops on lap 265, 268 and 265, and had to pit again.

The #32 and #911 made 10 stops each, but from there, the BMW emerged as the one to beat. Through the early Safety Cars, the #32 made its second stop under Safety Car on lap 41, as the #911 stayed out and gained track position.

From there, the #32 and #911 stopped on lap 55, on lap 90 and 87, 126 and 117, 144 and 143, 166, 203 and 201, 238 and 233, and 272 and 265. The Porsche had been caught short, and stopped on lap 297 to get home.

The #26 Ferrari, spearheaded by Chaz Mostert, was fast all day, opening up a big lead after the first hour. However, the Arise entry was unable to match the BMWs as the race ended with a green stint that went for four hours and 34 minutes.

Mostert was pleased to be in the fight, passing the #32 in the final hour for the lead, but admitted it "hurt" to come up short of a podium.

"Huge day at the 12HR today, had a great start to the race and good final stint but we were coming up a bit short on fuel,” Mostert posted to social media.

“Was still able to finish P4 but hurts we didn’t get a step on the podium."

Race strategy of 2025 Meguiar's Bathurst 12 Hour key contenders

Key

Driver change

Safety Car stop

Unscheduled