Autohaus Hamilton has started its motorsport campaign for 2012 on a high with a class victory in the Bathurst 12 Hour.

The Hunter Motorsport entry of Nathan Tinkler, Steve Richards and Steve Johnson finished fourth outright after completing 254 laps of Mt Panorama ??? a staggering 10 laps ahead of the second placed Class B car.

The teams nearly had a dream run over the course of the 12 hours with only two minor incidents through the day. A weather change caught Nathan Tinkler out in the early stages of the race and saw him spin at turn two on slick tyres but he was able to press on with no damage to the car.

Steve Richards had the other off on the final turn in towards the end of his final stint. While approaching the bend he momentarily locked the front brakes and rather than risking flat spotting the tyres he opted to run up the escape road and re-join the race with no damage to their track position.

Nathan Tinkler
??e started the day in eighth and we thought we had a machine that would go 12 hours and we never missed a beat. I think attrition helped us get up there ??? we were a few laps behind but the team did a fantastic job. It was testing out there today ??? I don???t care who you are or what you drive, you had to do up your nuts to get through the day!??/p>

Steve Richards
?? thought that if we had a really good day we could probably finish in the top five. We just had the perfect car. It was just fantastic. We had a trouble free week and we all did a good job. It???s not a bad way to warm up for Clipsal and the Carrera Cup Championship ??? that???s for sure!??/p>

Steve Johnson
??he Porsche is a reliable car. We definitely had to have some luck ??? we weren???t going to take on the outright Class A cars on speed. A few of them had some dramas and we were able to capitalise on that. We had a pretty much trouble free run and the boys did a great job. The only way it could have been better is if we finished on the podium.??/p>

Grant Geelan ??? Autohaus Hamilton owner and manager
??his was a fantastic day for Autohaus Hamilton. It has been a tremendously rewarding weekend for Autohaus Hamilton and we are looking forward to doing more endurance events in the future. Well done to the team and the drivers on a brilliant weekend!??/p>

Photography by Dirk Klynsmith