Young Australian driver Matt Campbell has given Porsche its maiden Bathurst 12 Hour race title with a nail-biting victory from Aston Martin gun Jake Dennis at Mount Panorama.
Campbell, 23, won the longest Bathurst 12 Hour in history after a massive 312 laps, almost double that of the home-grown 1000 race in October, to crown himself one of Porsche's up and coming stars.
He is classified as a Porsche young professional which is the middle tier of the program and will compete globally this year with the German marque at some of the world's most prestigious races.
"It's the best moment of my entire life," Campbell said of the win. "I knew it was going to be tough, but not that tough. It was an absolutely phenomenal race and I was completely spent at the end."
An audacious pass at the famous left-hand right angled corner of Forrest Elbow secured the win when he passed Aston Martin gun Jake Dennis.
Campbell made the winning move on Dennis after 11 hours and 51 minutes of racing.
It gave he and co-drivers Dirk Werner and Dennis Olsen the win by 3.44 seconds over the Brit and his Aston Martin teammates Matthieu Vaxiviere and Marvin Kirchhoefer.
"I knew that was going to be my only passing opportunity to I had to seize the moment, I had to try something different," Campbell said. "It was going to be my only passing opportunity, so I had to grab it."
Reigning Blancpain GT Champion Raffaele Marciello was third in the Mercedes AMG GT GT3 following a three-way fight with Supercars drivers Shane van Gisbergen and Chaz Mostert for the final place on the podium on the last lap.
Marciello teamed up with German's Maximilian Buhk and Maximilian Goetz.
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