Crick and Campbell win thrilling Bathurst 6 Hour from 66th

A late safety car meant the six-hour race was decided by a single-lap dash to the chequered flag.

It was effectively between Crick and Jayden Ojeda, with Crick setting a new lap record (2:21.8817) on that final lap as he charged to an emotional victory by eight tenths of a second.

It was a record-setting win as well, Crick and Campbell having come from 66th on the grid – farther back than anyone in a Bathurst enduro before.

“I can’t believe it really. Unbelievable,” said Crick.

“When we did that tyre, I thought we were done. The other set was pretty average too. I thought we were going to do another tyre there.

“I just felt like I was slowing down a lot but they said I was still too fast. So it was really hard to do what pace we needed to do.

“This guy (Dean Campbell) drove absolutely unbelievably. Just stayed out of trouble. He probably made a fair few spots when he got straight in, which was awesome.

“The car was outstanding. Obviously the drama we had yesterday – it was hit and miss whether it was fixed, but clearly it was and that crew with our stops and our strategy was unbelievable.”

Crick and Campell heaped praise on each other post-race as they revelled in their success.

“He is the best driver in a production car in this country, I don’t care what anyone else says,” Campbell said of Crick.

“It’s unreal. Speechless. I’m so proud of him. He’s such a good fella.

“We sat in the trailer out the back there and we all just said we’re all here together for a reason. We’re all a good group, we can come from the back.”

Ojeda, Simon Hodge and George Miedecke were second, coming up just short of an epic three-peat for the #1 BMW team.

Aaron Seton, Todd Hazelwood and Jason Gommersall rounded out the outright podium, and won Class A2, in their #30 Ford Mustang.

The race effectively boiled down to what was initially a three-way BMW battle that see-sawed across the final two hours.

The #1 car had looked to play a strategic blinder by clearing its six mandatory timed stops early so it could make quick stops for the run home with Ojeda in the car.

With a little over two hours to run it was Ojeda with a 10-second lead over Crick in the #118 BMW M2, however that car still needed to make one more long stop.

That put Crick on a charge, the Matt Stone Racing Supercars wildcard driver running Ojeda down and then barging into the lead at The Chase with 1h55m to run.

Three minutes later, the race took another twist when Crick’s right-front Hankook failed.

Thankfully for him, it was towards the end of the lap. However, the unscheduled stop dropped him down to fourth.

That left Ojeda in the lead until he pitted with 90 minutes to go, which in turn handed the lead over to Will Davison.

Davison continued to lead as the race was neutralised when a number of cars stopped on the road with 45 minutes to go.

The order behind the safety car was Davison, Crick, Ojeda, all now on the same strategy for the short run home.

That was until Davison was forced into the pits during the safety car period with a flat front-right of his own.

The race went green with 26 minutes to go, now a two-horse race between leader Crick and Ojeda in second.

They staged a tense battle until there was eight minutes to go when the safety car was called one last time when Tyler Mecklem buried his class-contending Mustang in the sand at The Chase.

Once the car was recovered there was time for a single-lap dash to the flag, Crick unwavering as he set a new lap record en route to victory.

That left Ojeda/Hodge/Miedecke in second, the trio falling painfully short of a three-peat.

The Davison/Lynton/Leahy car ended up fourth, left to rue both that unlucky tyre failure, and an earlier drive-through penalty that was served, and then controversy rescinded.

The Speedcafe BMW of Oscar Targett, Karl Begg and Rob Gooley finished fifth outright and fourth in class after battling gearbox temp issues throughout the day.

The Zak Best/Chris Delfsma/Brianna Wilson Mustang finished sixth outright and second in A2 – albeit under a cloud of appeal – while the David Russell/Tom McLennan car was seventh after going down a lap in the first half of the race.

The outright top 10 was rounded out by a trio of Class A2 Mustangs with the #25 in eighth, the Mecklem car hanging on to ninth and Bryce Fullwood bringing the #18 Ford home in 10th.

Class A1 honours went to the #93 BMW M2 of Cameron Laws, Cody Gillis and Jack Webster, helped by the #17 BMW M135i of Michael Osmond and Tim Colombrita being hit with a late drive-through for a pit stop infringement.

Classes B1 and B2 were both won by BMWs as well, with Brent Howard, Adam Gosling and Tim Wolfe winning B2 in their M3 (20th outright) and Tabitha Ambrose, Courtney Prince and Karlie Buccini winning B1 in their 340i (32nd outright).

Class D was won by Isaac Demellweek and Romeo Nasr in their Toyota 86 after long-time leaders Alice Buckley/Tyler Cheney/Hayden Hume suffered an engine failure late in the race.

Class C went to Troy Derwent/Oskar Butt/Matthew Dicinoski in their Holden Astra and Class E to Ronin Lindenmayer, Kym de Britt and Philip Alexander in their Mazda 3.

Results: 2025 Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour (provisional)