The reason for the red flag was an accident in which Ash Walsh was involved as well. The Australian privateer driver was sharing an Audi R8 LMS with his compatriots James and Theo Koundouris and with Duvashen Patayachee. They were on course for clinching amateur class victory when on lap 270 several participants crashed in the same place on track.

Audi Sport Team MPC had expected to have chances of clinching a good overall result as well. Kelvin van der Linde/Garth Tander/Frédéric Vervisch (ZA/AUS/B) were leading the race some of the time. However, a contact with the wall by Kelvin van der Linde required the left rear suspension to be changed. In the end, car number 22 saw the checkered flag with a large deficit. The sister car of Christopher Haase, Christopher Mies and Markus Winkelhock was battling in the pack at the front from the beginning. From the fifth hour of racing onward, the German driver trio repeatedly led the race, depending on the pit stop sequence. A broken left drive shaft in the eleventh of twelve hours of racing, though, destroyed all hopes.

Audi Sport customer racing thus managed a successful start to the 2018 season. In January, the Audi R8 LMS GT4 achieved a one-two GT4 class win in the 24 Hours of Dubai. Two weeks later, the Audi RS 3 LMS clinched a 1-2-3-4 result in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge at Daytona and now the GT3 version of the Audi R8 LMS triumphed at Bathurst.

12h Bathurst picture gallery

- End -

Audi AG published this content on 04 February 2018 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 04 February 2018 09:19:01 UTC.

Original documenthttps://www.audi-mediacenter.com/en/press-releases/third-audi-victory-in-bathurst-12-hour-9827

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