Campbell is the common denominator in both of Porsche’s Bathurst 12 Hour wins to date and, on both of those occasions, he was tasked with the final stint of the race.
While there was not a repeat this time of his heroic pass in 2019, the 29-year-old was clinical in the closing stages, even when a Safety Car wiped out a 12-second lead and set up a half-hour sprint to the chequered flag.
The effort meant Vanthoor can now count himself a Bathurst 12 Hour winner, after two podiums in his previous seven attempts.
The Belgian hailed the performances of rookie co-driver Ayhancan Guven and particularly of Campbell.
“It means a lot,” said Vanthoor, already a 24 Hours of Spa winner.
“I think this is one of my most favourite races on the calendar, so it was very, very key to come back here and I was pushing for it a lot.
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“So, I’m extremely happy; happy to put it on my list of things I wanted to achieve in my career, so, proud of that.
“I’m proud to be part of the group we were this weekend. Ayhancan, it’s his first race here in Bathurst, [he is] unexperienced or slightly less experienced in endurance racing, [but] he did really well, so I’m really proud of him.
“And, you know, Matt just did what he did, like always.
“He deserves a knighthood in Australia!” concluded the Belgian, laughing.
Vanthoor may be a few years late for his push for ‘Sir Matt Campbell’, although there is no doubt that the McElrea Racing graduate is on a high given his second outright Bathurst 12 Hour win (third class win) came just three weeks after his first outright triumph in the 24 Hours of Daytona.
Last year, Campbell finished a very close second at Mount Panorama, also with Manthey EMA, but with two different co-drivers on that occasion.
This year at Bathurst, the German-Australian team mistakenly instructed Campbell to take a drive-through penalty under Safety Car but, through a combination of speed and strategy, were back in a commanding position before the final Safety Car.
Vanthoor said on being part of the squad, “For me, they are the benchmark at the moment in GT racing in terms of teams’ preparation.
“It’s been like this since a while but lately even more a group of people who they have are doing an extremely good job.
“Even this time, I was surprised about… You know, we generally work in professional environments, but the amount of preparation and knowhow they have is quite incredible.
“So, coming here, everything was almost perfect.
“If you want to win a big race like this, this is the perfect environment to be a part of, so hopefully we can do it a couple more times here.”
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