All right on the night for White

JOEL RITCHIE

FORMER Wollongong Performance Racing (WPR) driver Damien White guided his team to victory in the WPS Bathurst 12-hour race on Sunday at the iconic Mt Panorama Track.

White, driving with Graham Alexander and Rod Salmon the #27 SKWIRK.com Mitsubishi EVO IX, took the chequered flag in the centrepiece of the WPS Bathurst Motor Festival.

The 12-hour endurance event covers around 1580km but spectators thought they were watching a sprint race after a frenetic pace off the start that led to a three-wide battle up the mountain.

There were multiple lead changes before the field had completed even three laps of the 6.213km circuit.

Twelve hours later, after countless lead changes, seven safety cars and a spectacular crash by Len Cave in the Thrifty Mazda 3 MPS, White was first across the line to claim victory.

White and his team mates had an epic battle with the Team VIP Petfoods Mitsubishi EVO IX, which was manned by television personality Grant Denyer.

Defending Bathurst 12 hour race winners Craig Baird, Paul Morris and Garry Holt were close behind in their BMW 335i for third.

“To start the race, lead the race, then come in and hop out of the car, go out the back and get changed and then come back to the garage and have it be only 8am was really quite weird,” White said.

“Now here we are and it is 7pm and we are winners, and that is a really, really good feeling.”

A three-hour highlights package of the endurance Event will be broadcast on Channel Seven on Saturday, February 16 from 2pm to 5pm.