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Red flag waved at Bathurst following significant crash
SEN • February 15th, 2026 6:00 pm
The Bathurst 12-hour endurance race has seen the red flag been brought out following a massive crash at Mount Panorama.
The incident involved #79 Johannes Zelger, who found himself in a stationary position pointing towards the wall just before Forrest’s Elbow (Turn 18) following an earlier accident at McPhillamy Park (between Turn 10 and 11).
Alongside him was #14 Damien Hamilton in the Aston Martin, who was initially stuck behind Zelger and was attempting to go around Zelger to continue racing.
But only seconds later, and with no flags being flagged to let drivers know of the situation, race leader #77 Ralf Aron was unable to avoid Zelger, resulting in a rather large crash, prompting a safety car and then a red flag.
Speaking about the incident, Mercedes-AMG Team GMR driver Maro Engel admitted that he was lucky to not have been involved.
“I just saw a car stopping in Forrest’s Elbow and Ralf tried to avoid it but still hit it,” he said.
“I just moved left and I guess I was just lucky. I heard that there was a car in Forrest’s Elbow but I took out (the speed) a little bit. Probably not enough, but I was just lucky.”
Both drivers were able to get out of their cars, with Aron having been taken to Orange Hospital, where he remains in a stable condition.
It’s the first time since 2018 that the red flag has been required for the race.
Following the crash, many on social media questioned why there were no yellow flags being waved prior to the accident occurring.
The race has since resumed.
