The 2025 Intercontinental GT Challenge season opened this weekend with the Bathurst 12 Hours. The famous Australian race held on the slopes of Mount Panorama crowned a new manufacturer in the GT3 era: BMW. It is the first time since 2010 that the German manufacturer has won the event, with at that time an all-Australian trio formed by John Bowe, Garry Holt and Paul Morris in a 335i from the Eastern Creek International team. Karting.
15 years later, the propeller firm has returned to the top of "The Mountain" thanks to a trident composed of brothers Kelvin and Sheldon van der Linde as well as Augusto Farfus. Three men who were at the 24 Hours of Daytona a week before, where the Brazilian distinguished himself in particular by his untimely blocks on the Corvette Z06 GT3.R n°4 of Tommy Miler, which earned him a gesture of sympathy from the American driver.
In Australia, Farfus and the Van der Linde brothers won by putting their fuel-saving strategy to work. Team WRT took advantage of the neutralisations in the first hours of the race to take the lead of the event while Sheldon van der Linde, poleman in 2024, had to settle for fourth place on the starting grid.
His brother Kelvin was in charge of finishing the race. The South African was in the fight with local star Chaz Mostert, who was lined up on the Ferrari 296 GT3 #26 Arise Racing GT with Will Brown and Daniel Serra. The Italian manufacturer's car, which was making its big comeback at Bathurst five years after its last appearance, was however forced to make a final pit stop 22 minutes from the end. The eldest of the Van der Linde siblings managed to conserve enough fuel to cross the finish line victoriously and offer Vincent Vosse's team a first victory at the event since 2018 (victory at the time by Robin Frijns, Stuart Leonard and Dries Vanthoor in an Audi R8 LMS GT3).
Team WRT and BMW even achieved a one-two finish, with second place going to the No. 46 Valentino Rossi, Raffaele Marciello and Charles Weerts. This is the first podium at Bathurst for the Italian legend of MotoGP, for its third participation (6th in 2023, 4th in 2024). The podium of the 2025 edition is completed by another German manufacturer with the Mercedes-AMG GT3 by Jules Gounon, Kenny Habul and Luca Stolz.
The pure sound of emotions. 🔊 pic.twitter.com/thyDBxUtGD
— BMW M Motorsport (@BMWMotorsport) February 2, 2025
The next round of the 2025 season of theIGTC will be the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, from June 19 to 22.
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