Ken Douglas, best known for roles with Motec and in the Supercars success of Stone Brothers Racing and Triple Eight, is a regular part of BMW Team WRT.
The Gold Coast-based Douglas tackles all the major GT3 and World Endurance Championship races with the Belgian squad as its strategist.
Douglas had previously worked with WRT during its time as an Audi team, which also netted Bathurst 12 Hour success in 2018.
Sunday’s win came during WRT’s third trip to Bathurst with the BMW M4 and followed the marque’s previous near misses at the Mountain with its M6 run by other teams.
Fuel strategy and economy played a major role in this year’s result thanks in part to a four-and-a-half-hour green flag spell to the finish.
Chaz Mostert blazed to the lead with under 40 minutes to go in the #26 Arise Ferrari but, like the then top Mercedes (#77 Craft-Bamboo) and Porsche (#911 Absolute Racing) entries, needed to stop late.
“The race was about trying to judge Safety Cars, as it always is,” Douglas told Speedcafe following the team’s 1-2 finish.
“There were quite a few early on and then it turned into a green race.
“You always sort of think a Safety Car will get you out of trouble strategically, but you have to also run the B-scenario of there not being one.
“So we just went into a fuel-save mode that we could revert back to a push-mode if there was a Safety Car.
“Were about seven laps short at our normal consumption, so we just had to add laps to the stint and push it out on the basis there wasn’t going to be a Safety Car.
“We did it early enough that we could cover both scenarios.”
While Team WRT could manage its own fuel consumption – and did so to the point of the winning car coughing on the cool down lap – Douglas says the Arise Ferrari remained a legitimate concern.
“There were different points where we were still exposed, like at the end, if the Ferrari had gotten a Safety Car it would have shortened the race and solved their problems,” Douglas added.
“The #26 could have maybe got to the end [with a long Safety Car] and they had track position on us, so it wouldn’t have been a good day, but all these deals are so situational.”
Fuel strategy came to the fore this year after organisers elected not to enforce a maximum stint length under its Balance of Performance regulations.
A minimum number of compulsory pit stops was also not part of the rule mix this year, although any stop featuring refuelling, or a driver change, was subject to a minimum 80-second time.
“They still try and limit the strategic options, which I’m not sure is the best idea in the world,” said Douglas.
“If you have some strategic diversity and can decide to do tyres or fuel or run long or short, someone’s strategy will work and it might not be the obvious one.
“But at the moment, even the splash the Ferrari had to do, which was maybe 10 litres, it was an 80 second pitstop, so they can’t do a splash and dash, they had to sit for 80 seconds.
“It’s a philosophical thing. I like having more colours in the palette and they tend to be taken away more and more. But then you’ve just got to find where they still are…”
Douglas’ career in motorsport has included starts in the Bathurst 12 Hour as a driver, finishing second in the inaugural race in 1991 co-driving a Ford Laser TX3.
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