Monday Pit-stop #3

There was action on every continent – from Australia to Europe to Asia – over the weekend.

Probably the highlight was the Bathurst 12 Hours, held on the epic 6.213-kilometre Mount Panorama circuit to the west of Sydney. It's one of the most spectacular and challenging tracks in the world, which runs from before sunrise until sunset, with huge elevation changes and some stunning views. To quote Dick Johnson, an Australian touring car legend who knows the place well, it keeps every driver “busier than a dog trying to bury a bone in a marble floor.”

This year's Intercontinental GT Challenge opener was no exception, with the distinctive Manthey Racing ‘Grello' Porsche 911 GT3R made to work hard for victory right up to the finish line, after a late-race caution period shuffled the pack.

In the end Porsche factory driver Matt Campbell – sharing the green 911 with Ayhancan Guven and Laurens Vanthoor – crossed the finish line just 2.6 seconds ahead of the Mercedes-AMG driven by Jules Gounon, ending Gounon's hopes of a fourth straight win on ‘The Mountain'. Audi was third, with Christopher Haase moving up from fifth to the final podium place with only seven minutes to go.

However, it was a BMW on pole, thanks to South African Sheldon van der Linde. His car didn't finish due to a big crash while Charles Weerts was driven, but the other WRT BMW M4 driven by Maxime Martin, Raffaele Marciello and Valentino Rossi almost secured a podium, before dropping to fifth place during the shake-up right at the finish.

“Hats off to everyone, as it wasn't easy in mixed conditions,” said Campbell, who previously won the event in 2019. “It was a little bit of risk management as well, there was quite a bit of water off-line as well. We got there in the end though!”

There was risk management on every corner of Rally Sweden too, round two of the World Rally Championship, held around the city of Umea, not far from the Arctic Circle. In heavy snow, Finland's Esapekka Lappi took his first victory in more than six years, driving for Hyundai. Many of the leading runners eliminated themselves from contention – including Toyota's reigning champion Kalle Rovanpera, back for the first event of his partial season this year. By keeping out of trouble, Lappi secured an assured victory over Toyota driver Elfyn Evans, while M-Sport Ford driver Adrien Fourmaux secured his first podium after a great run to third.

Rallye Monte-Carlo winner Thierry Neuville finished fourth, but still maintains a slim drivers' championship lead over Evans, while Toyota and Hyundai are now tied at the head of the constructors' standings. Who said that the 2024 WRC season might be boring?

In other off-road motorsport, the first round of the Extreme E championship got underway with the Desert X-Prix in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The Acciona Sainz XE Team, consisting of Fraser McConnell and Laia Sanz, won from the Andretti squad of Timmy Hansen and Catie Munnings.

However, it's another name from Formula 1 that leads the standings: Rosberg X Racing, fronted by the 2016 F1 world champion. Who, for the record, has no interest in returning to Mercedes to take Lewis Hamilton's place next year…