Porsche Carrera Cup Australia racers past and present have taken victory in Class B in the 2015 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, while other 2014 Carrera Cup drivers impressed on Mount Panorama.

Young gun Sam Power, along with his team of former Carrera Cup drivers Marcus Marshall and James and Theo Koundouris, raced their #47 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S to victory in Class B, two laps ahead of their nearest class rivals and 16th place outright.

Power, who placed sixth in the 2014 Carrera Cup standings, was pleased with the team’s performance ahead of his 2015 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup campaign.

“It was an epic race. I’m lucky enough to have been on the podium at Bathurst before but never on the top step, so to do it in that fashion and to go through the relentless rollercoaster ride of ups and downs makes this result much more special,” said Power.

“We knew we had to perform well to take the class win; the Grove Porsche was fast with a top driver combination, but everyone in our team did a brilliant job. Marcus has vast experience at Bathurst and his knowledge was great with setting up and car and the Koundouris brothers did a mega job – both made no mistakes and drove a perfect race.”

Reigning Carrera Cup Elite Class champion Stephen Grove, Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup racer Ben Barker and Luke Youlden finished second in Class B from third placed Tim Macrow, Peter Rullo and Devon Modell.

The highest placed Porsche in the Mount Panorama endurance race was driven by the trio of factory driver Pat Long, David Calvert-Jones and Chris Pither, finishing 11th in a 911 GT3 R.

“You focus on hitting your marks and sticking to a plan in races like this, and in general we did just that. We had an unlucky break getting hit from behind when there was a concertina at the Cutting during Chris’s stint, but the team worked their tails off and just put in an outstanding effort all day – and all weekend long. All in all we can be pleased with making it to the end of a race as gruelling as this,” said Long.

Porsche regulars also faired well in the race: GT3 Cup Challenge champion and Carrera Cup entrant Richard Muscat finished fifth outright in a Mercedes-Benz SLS, Roger Lago finished seventh outright in a Lamborghini Gallardo alongside 2014 Carrera Cup race winner David Russell and Steve Owen, Marc Cini rounded out the top 10 in a Audi R8 with Christopher Mies and Mark Eddy and Carrera Cup driver Michael Almond finished 14th with Peter Fitzgerald and Matt Halliday.

GT3 Cup Challenge racer John Goodacre placed sixth in Class B and 22nd outright teamed with Jeff Bobik, Terry Knight and Nick Cresswell while fellow GT3 Cup Challenge driver Richard Gartner led his four-driver team to the finish in 30th.

The Bathurst 12 Hour featured a strong Porsche presence at Mount Panorama – over 20 per cent of the endurance field. The 2015 Bathurst 12 Hour saw a record 20 safety car interventions – surpassing the previous record of 15 in 2013 – and was ultimately won by the NISMO Global Athlete Group Nissan GT-R.