Crashes, Safety Cars headline dramatic second hour

INCIDENTS and Safety Cars have punctuated an extraordinary start to the Meguiar's Bathurst 12 Hour, with three cars already out of the race before the two-hour mark.

Two Safety Cars were called before the race breached two hours, first for a beached Maximilian Gotz (#77 Mercedes-AMG), before another following a big crash between the #25 McLaren and #44 Audi at Skyline.

The #25 McLaren and #44 Audi joined the #222 Mercedes-AMG in retirement, with two-time winner Craig Lowndes crashing across the top of the Mountain.

After a fast start for Chaz Mostert and Arise Racing's #26 Ferrari, the race turned on its head when a racy Gotz drew alongside Will Brown into Murray's Corner.

Contact sent the #77 Mercedes-AMG into the sand trap, and Gotz beached, the Safety Car was deployed. WRT BMW and GruppeM were given a free kick, with Brown slotting into fourth.

To green, Augusto Farfus (#32 BMW) led teammate Valentino Rossi's #46 BMW, which had started 12th. Maxime Martin (#888 Mercedes-AMG), was third ahead of Ian James in Heart of Racing's #27 Pro-Am Mercedes-AMG, with Brown (#26 Ferrari) fifth.

Ayhancan Guven, who had started 11th, had pushed the #911 Absolute Racing Porsche into contention, with Kenny Habul (#75 Mercedes-AMG) ahead of Lowndes (#222 Mercedes-AMG).

Stewards advised no further investigation over the Gotz/Brown`clash as Farfus took the restart, with James bowling a wide at Murray's Corner. The lapped Gotz baulked and was hit by Brown, with Guven and Lowndes just behind. Behind them, Dean Fiore (#9 Audi) sent the Ryan Sorensen #25 McLaren into a spin at Griffins Bend.

GruppeM's race then suffered a hit after the #888 was slapped with a drive-through penalty over a breach of Safety Car procedure, with Martin forced to hold under the second Safety Car. Habul hit James at The Chase, with the #75 hit with a 15-second penalty and also forced to hold.

Lowndes pulled over after The Chase with rear suspension damage, rubbing the #222 out on the spot. Shortly afterwards, Liam Talbot (#183 Audi) put a bold move on Habul at Griffins Bend, only for the #183 to suffer a puncture.

Before the #25 and #44 collided, Farfus led Rossi by 1.3s, with Martin 2.1s down. Brown was 18.5s behind from Guven and Mateo Villagomez (#14 Aston Martin).

Sorensen lost the #25 McLaren at Skyline, crashing on driver's left. Zalloua had nowhere to go, with the #44 stopping on the run out of Forrests Elbow.

Under Safety Car, Rossi jumped the #32 as Farfus handed over to Kelvin van der Linde. The #32 wouldn't turn over, gifting the place to the #46, as Guven took over the race lead from Villagomez.