Cameron Hill and Tom Sargent have won the 2022 Bathurst 6 Hour, giving its BMW M2 Competition the perfect debut in the prestigious production car race.
Despite a setback in qualifying after Sargent had scored a scintillating pole position only to be disqualified for a ride height infringement, the Hill/Sargent combination made up the most positions ever in a Bathurst endurance event to take the flag after six hours of racing.
Starting from 61st and last place, the Tegra Australia-supported M2 saw Sargent take the opening stint and set the race up in his opening stint, scything through the field. His stint included a gain of 19 places in the first lap and 20 in the next as the entry ended the opening hour third.
Never being out of the frontrunning teams, a fierce challenge came from the Car Mods Australia BMW M3 shared by Supercars race winner Tim Slade and Brad Carr.
In a sensational final stint, Hill chased down and made a daring pass on Slade at Brock Skyline with under 20 minutes remaining. Once in the lead, he was never headed, winning the race by 7.465 seconds.
The win was a great reward for the CHE Racing team after a frantic build up for the team as Sargent contributed much time and effort into the completion of the M2, which only tested for the first time last week.
In taking victory, the CHE Racing Team continued BMW’s winning streak in Australia’s premier production car race, now six-straight wins and the second-consecutive BMW 6 Hour podium clean-sweep.
Cameron Hill
“About a month and a half ago we were honestly thinking ‘do we just give up now?’” Hill said.
“It was just so far from being done – it didn’t even have a fuel tank – and the race was getting closer, but we said ‘no, we’ll crack on with it’ and it turned its first laps last week.
“The team did an awesome job. Didn’t put a foot wrong. Pit stops were absolutely on point and Tommy drove some sensational stint, so it was an all-round performance.
“It was pretty gut wrenching, especially for Tommy [to have pole taken away]. That was a massive moment for him to out qualify all these Supercars drivers, but I was calm. I knew we had the car under us, I knew it was a long race
“We just played into it and I reckon by the second stint we were in the lead.
“It was a pretty mega final stint.
“We took tyres because if the race stayed green, I don’t think we would have got them, so we took tyres banking on a safety car and the Bathurst gods delivered.
“I just hunted him down, I think we broke the lap record along the way. I was really struggling to find a way past him, I could see he was struggling, but he put the car in the right places and I couldn’t do much.
“I realised he [Slade] was always weak at McPhillamy Park and I just thought if I could get a run through here, and send it up there, it’s on. We did it, it stuck and the rest is history.
“I think we’ll have to come back next year and defend.”
Tom Sargent
"I was definitely giving it my all on the first few laps to try and make up those positions - obviously it was a bit easier because they were the lower class cars,” explained Sargent.
“It kind of helped set us up. I take my hat off to Cameron (Hill) to pass those guys at the front. They are pretty well credential people and he really showed them a thing or two today.
"Trying to do a lap around Bathurst is always hard. You never quite get it right and it's such a long track, it's very hard to get. Looking back on that lap now, I could have done better here or there but all in all it was a pole lap.
"To then have it taken off us hurt for sure, but I definitely think it made the fire in the belly really strong for today. I think for us to drive through the way that we did really proved that our speed wasn't just on that technical infringement.
"I was very fortunate that I was able to be heavily involved in the build. A lot of us put in constant 100-hour weeks to get this car here and at the time I was questioning whether it was worth it, but I can say right now that it was worth it. All those times getting home at 2am and living off pizza for a week made it a bit how you going, but it's all worth it now.
"The amount of people behind the scenes that have gotten this car here blows my mind.”
