Last weekend saw Bentley Team M-Sport tackle their first event of the year.

Travelling to Australia for the legendary Bathurst 12 Hours, the team had a major point to prove and were determined to challenge for victory at the prestigious Mount Panorama Circuit.

Like the legendary endurance races throughout Europe, Bathurst is one of those events that every team wants to win and the Cockermouth-based squad were determined to put their best foot forward.

Having come tantalisingly close to victory in the past, the team were focused on a successful final outing for the original Continental GT3.

Unfortunately, plans to send M-Sport’s maiden race car into retirement with style were cruelly waylaid.

The team enjoy notable support in Australia, and that only increased when the team overcame adversity before the engines had even roared into life.

When the cars and equipment arrived late due to a shipping delay, the team were forced to work throughout the night.

In just five-and-a-half hours, they had unloaded and prepared both Continental GT3s as well as setting up the pit garage ahead of the first 9am practice session.

The mammoth task would ordinarily have taken two days to complete, but the Cumbrians used all of their famed grit and determination to ensure that everything was ready.

Qualifying in ninth and 14th places respectively, the team were well placed to make their way through the field and as the race got under way, they did just that – Steven Kane leading the field at the four hour mark.

There was, however, less fortune for the second Continental GT3.

Having lost 20 laps when Vince Abril was forced into the pits for a gearbox change, their race came to an end when Maxime Soulet picked up a high-speed puncture on lap 85.

Expert driving from the Belgian prevented him collecting any cars ahead, but the Continental GT3 would go no further having become beached in the gravel trap.

The hopes of the team then rested on the soul remaining Continental GT3 – raced in the hands of Guy Smith, Steven Kane and new kid on the block Jules Gounon.

A drive-through penalty had dropped the team from the lead, but a strong result was still on the cards.

Gounon quickly regained the lead and, after a spate of pit stops, Smith emerged in third place a mere 30 seconds adrift of the leading car.

The team clearly had the pace to battle for the win and had a chance of becoming the first team in history to secure victory after qualifying outside of the top-seven. But then, on lap 218, disaster struck as Kane was hit.

Kevin Estre’s Craft-Bamboo Racing Porsche and Chaz Mostert’s BMW Team Schnitzer M6 were both eyeing third place.

Mostert tried to find his way past, but the trio became bottled up behind a class B Porsche. The BMW made contact with the Bentley, and M-Sport’s hopes were dashed.

Kane made it back to the pit garage where the M-Sport mechanics worked their magic – Gounon taking to the wheel and rejoining six-laps down in 18th place.

Fighting back admirably, Bentley Team M-Sport finished the race in 16th but it could – and arguably should – have been so much more.

“Luck was definitely not on our side this weekend,” said M-Sport’s race team manager Matthew Wilson.

“We had the pace to challenge for the win so to have that taken away from us – through no fault of our own – was really disappointing.

“We wanted to bid a fond farewell to the original Continental GT3 in style, and had every chance of doing that.

“Sadly it was not to be, and we will have to make do with the race-winning pace that we showed throughout the weekend.

“The lads all worked extremely hard.

"When the shipping was delayed they got everything ready in record time, and kept going throughout the entire race. I’m really proud of the team, and we will certainly come back fighting when we launch the new car in Monza.”

The new-generation Bentley Continental GT3 will make its competitive debut at the opening round of the Blancpain Endurance series at Monza in April.