Media & Events - Dramatic Bathurst 12 Hour start for Maranello 458

Dane endurance specialist Simonsen had started strongly in the #17 Il Bello Rosso Ferrari 458 GT3 during the opening hour of the 2012 Bathurst 12 Hour at Mount Panorama, but it's been action aplenty as the laps and hours tick over.

A rolling start at 0615 saw the 25 strong field roar up the mountain, headlights ablaze, Simonsen having realised he had no high beams during his warm up lap, but showed the potential of the 458 powering off the line to tuck in behind the leading Audi, using the Phoenix entry to light the way.

Looking strong, the Dane waited until just turn two to take a look under the leader, clearly with the power as the two opened a lead of two seconds over the field in the first laps as Simonsen posted a 2:09.26 to open his account, before going side by side with the Audi to take the race lead through the chase on the following lap.

Simonsen was soon pulling out a gap, his main rival now the clock as he left a quality international field searching for answers posting a blistering 2:07.4975 on lap eight. A Ferrari specialist, he used his vast experience around Mount Panorama to continue to dominate the opening stages, opening a 3.9 second lead.

The #17 Il Bello Rosso dipped into 2:06 bracket on lap 22 with a 2:06.4582 to set a new lap race record as Simonsen led the race comfortably by 13.3 seconds at the one hour mark, the Ferrari appearing set to coast at the front as it looked to assert its dominance over the Audi of Mies, and the rest of the field. Simonsen's strong pace left the team felling confident heading into the second hour.

Just as the first 60 minutes ticked over, hearts dropped in the Maranello Motorsport garage as their leader began to coast across the top of the mountain. A slow journey back to the pits, Simonsen coasted towards the pit bay, the Ferrari stopping just ten metres short. A prompt fuel stop and the team were confident they were back on track despite dropping from the lead lap. An issue with the fuel gauge saw an incorrect read in the cockpit, one lap and another trip past the garage for a tyre change and computer reset to overcome the gauge gremlin.

The Il Bello Rosso entry was now two laps down in eighth, but set about eating into the lead of the cars in front, Simonsen using the next 20 laps to make quick work of the traffic to reduce the gap to a little over 1 lap by lap 46. The Ferrari 458 moved up into sixth position and was well and truly back on the pace, as the Dane went on to again break his own record, setting a 2:06.3311.

In a strong early performance, Simonsen was edging closer, now one lap down as he handed the Ferrari over to Australian touring car legend Bowe, just before the first safety car of the race entered the circuit. The Tasmanian will go about consolidating the ground Simonsen made up in an action packed opening two hours for the Maranello Motorsport team.

Allan Simonsen
"We hadn't done any of the sessions in the dark, and I realised on warm up that I had no high beams, so was thinking 'how am I going to see?'.

"It was a good start and was good that the Audi was quick off the start so it could light the track up so I knew where I was going, the got into the groove and the sun came up. We had good car speed and I was able to pull away.

"That changed when the fuel gauge was wrong, I was told to pit and on that lap as I was coming around, it started coughing, but the fuel gauge said there was plenty. I came in and we set going again with a full tank, then after two laps the fuel alarm came on, but we're sorted and this is what can happen.

"Anything can happen, and yes it's not nice to go a couple of laps down to begin with, but we've got a strong car and a strong driver lineup.

"I was pushing every lap, trying to do the best I possibly could to gain back what we lost, but we got one back then the safety car came a lap too late, but our luck will change. 12 hours is a long time and a lot can happen."

Maranello Motorsport's Bathurst 12 Hour campaign is proudly supported by Il Bello Rosso - Baby Roma Tomatoes, General Pants Co, BioMax, iPatrol and GPI Corporate.

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