zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Racing
/
This Three-Wide Smack-Pass Is How The Bathurst 12 Hour Really Ended
This Three-Wide Smack-Pass Is How The Bathurst 12 Hour Really Ended-August 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:11:45

You know what's frustrating? When there's an epic battle going on for multiple places in a race, but the cameras stick to the car in first place as if that's the only one who matters. That's exactly what happened with the , and luckily, a fan fixed it for us. Three-wide. Smack-pass. This is nuts.

Due to a late safety car that bunched everybody up, everything was up for grabs among the leaders of the Bathurst 12 Hour. Matt Bell had been leading for a long time in the big Bentley Continental GT3, but Katsumasa Chiyo made a series of passes in the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT early on during the restart from fourth up to first place.

We saw what happened with the GT-R on the international video feed. What we didn't see was how the Audi R8 LMS Ultra of Laurens Vanthoor got around into second place, in front of both the Bentley as well as the Aston Martin Vantage of Stefan Mücke. The video feed cut from a Bell/Mücke/Vanthoor train to a Vanthoor/Mücke/Bell 2/3/4 result. Huh?

Here's how that happened, and it's even more insane than most described it. The massive Bentley is an obstacle in its own right, as its sheer size makes it difficult to get around. If it's the last turn of the race, though, I suppose rubbing up against the guy matters much less. Bell's tires were tired by the time that last corner came around from all the weaving and darting he'd done to keep the racers directly off his back bumper from coming around in front. As soon as his back end stepped out, he was done.

Passed on both sides in the last corner.

Spectacular.

[H/T !]

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Racing
The Indy Car Wars Misses Out On The Story In Favor Of Facts
The Indy Car Wars Misses Out On The Story In Favor Of Facts
American open-wheel racing has been in dire straits for years, and it all goes back to a little piece of white paper. Open-wheel sanctioning bodies in the US have only just recently started playing nice, and The IndyCar Wars tries to tell the story of its petty arguments and...
Aug 15, 2025
NASCAR's COVID-19 Honor System Is Still A Bad Idea
NASCAR's COVID-19 Honor System Is Still A Bad Idea
While some motorsport series are testing all drivers and team personnel for COVID-19 before each event, NASCAR is one of the series operating almost entirely on the honor system: If you feel ill, it’s up to you to report it. And it’s still a terrible idea. “It would suck,...
Aug 15, 2025
Ferrari Faces WEC And GT World Challenge Season Finale Clash
Ferrari Faces WEC And GT World Challenge Season Finale Clash
It was bound to happen eventually: as racing schedules around the world were reshuffled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it stood to reason that, at some point, a team or manufacturer would face a clash between events from different disciplines. Now, Ferrari’s WEC and GT World Challenge Europe...
Aug 15, 2025
Bubba Wallace Is Leaving Richard Petty's NASCAR Team
Bubba Wallace Is Leaving Richard Petty's NASCAR Team
driver Bubba Wallace announced today that he will be done driving the No. 43 car with Richard Petty Motorsports after this season, with nine races to go. It is a bit of a mystery, for now, where he goes next. First, Bubba’s statement: And some reporting from the Associated...
Aug 15, 2025
Lewis Hamilton's New Extreme E Team Lends The Series His Championship Credibility
Lewis Hamilton's New Extreme E Team Lends The Series His Championship Credibility
Lewis Hamilton, the guy who got in last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, has founded a brand new racing team to contest the 2021 season of Extreme E electric off-road racing. If you aren’t yet aware of this Hamilton kid, he’s pretty good. He’s already earned six Formula One championships,...
Aug 15, 2025
Sebastian Vettel: F1 Might Not Exist In 10 Years Without Serious Change
Sebastian Vettel: F1 Might Not Exist In 10 Years Without Serious Change
Formula One is in a bit of a rut. Barring disaster, fans are generally able to accurately predict the team that’s going to win every race. It’s easy to guess which teams will be mired in the back of the grid. And, honestly, those same hypotheses would likely hold...
Aug 15, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved