Christopher Mies has explained his unfortunate collision with a kangaroo during the opening stages of the 2026 Bathurst 12 Hour, which the Ford driver survived unscathed.

Mies, who was sharing the #64 HRT Ford Mustang GT3 with reigning Supercars champion Broc Feeney and 2019 Intercontinental GT champion Dennis Olsen, hit a kangaroo at 250km/h on the Conrod Straight at Mount Panorama Circuit, with the incident ripping off the windshield of the Ford Mustang GT3.

Mercedes takes dramatic Bathurst 12 Hour win

There was initial concern. The two-time race winner was visibly shaken and took several minutes to collect himself. 

"Yeah, I'm glad I'm standing here right now talking to you. Obviously, it was a very, very big impact at a very high speed, so yeah, I'm just glad standing here right now," the 36-year-old said in his initial reaction.

He went on to praise the safety features of the Ford, which raced for the final time in its pre-Evo configuration at Bathurst: "I think that was probably the first big hit for Mustang GT3 and I'm really happy that they built such a safe race car at Ford Racing and Multimatic, so thank you for that.”

The impact caught Mies completely off guard: “The moment I saw the kangaroo, that was the moment I hit it, so there was no pre-warning, I didn't see any flags or so, so I think it might just have woken up and started to run and yeah, I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Confirmation that the Mustang hit a kangaroo on Conrod Straight. Mies appears shaken - as you would be - but ok.

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Kangaroo inside the cockpit “doesn't smell very nice”

The severity of the crash was highlighted by the rather grim fact that the remains of the kangaroo found their way into the cockpit, covering the German's helmet and racing suit, and thus creating an extreme mess.

Mies confirmed that his entire gear is no longer usable: "Yeah, I mean, it's all in the trash. I mean, it's not usable anymore. I can tell one thing, a kangaroo from the inside doesn't smell very nice, so yeah, but I'm just gutted for the team at HRT and Ford Racing that we couldn't do the full race distance today."

Despite the shock, his love for Australia remains unbroken. Mies already announced his intention to return to Mount Panorama next year. However, he plans to change his choice of souvenirs for home after this experience.

"My son asked me to bring him a little toy, a kangaroo toy. I will not do that, I will buy him a koala or a wombat or whatever, but no kangaroo," he joked. "I still love Australia, I will still come back."

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Maxime Martin, Maro Engel and Mikael Grenier have won a dramatic – and dramatically shortened – Bathurst 12 Hour race.

Their Team GMR entry started from 29th on the grid after a series of problems during practice and qualifying, but the trio showed excellent pace throughout the race and when Martin was presented with the lead late in the race, he grabbed the opportunity and did not put a wheel wrong, winning by 1.0386s.

The race for the win was set up in the final hour, when the two Mercedes-AMGs of Chaz Mostert (STM) and Jayden Ojeda (Tigani) clashed at the exit of Turn 2. Both were out, and under safety car the leaders chose to pit over consecutive laps.

But the WRT BMW of Kelvin van der Linde did not, taking the lead about one metre ahead of the 75 Express Racing Mercedes-AMG of Jules Gounon. When the green flag flew the leaders clashed at the very first corner, losing ground and letting Martin through to the lead, giving all three drivers their first win down under.

“Starting the weekend I don’t think we expected to win. It was just patience,” said Martin after the race.

“We knew we would be in the game but we never expected that!” Grenier added. “We had something with the engine in qualifying but we had great strategy in the race.”

After so many attempts, Engel commented: “I have waited a long time for this and it is every bit as special as I thought it would be! Not as we planned, but in the end, we won the race.”

Second place went to Porsche, but possibly not the one that many observers might have fancied pre-race. From even further back on the grid in 30th, High Class Racing got some solid driving from Bronze driver Kerong Li, and co-drivers Dorian Boccolacci and Anders Fjordbach ran just behind the leading group, taking track position and holding it to the flag.

There was an epic battle for the final podium position, with 2025 winners WRT emerging from the struggle, Augusto Farfus, Raffaele Marciello and Valentino Rossi taking third, ahead of the Jamec Audi R8 GT3 Evo of former Supercars champion Will Brown/Christopher Haase/Brad Schumacher.

Valentino Rossi, Team WRT

It was a great comeback from the WRT team, as the M4 was tagged by another car, damaging its left-front at the first corner of the race; it broke later in the race, prompting a black flag.

In fifth place was the second-best of the BMWs, the Team KRC M4 GT3 of Max Hesse, Maxime Oosten and Bronze driver Cunfan Ruan ahead of the Absolute Racing Porsche of Matt Campbell/Bastian Buus/Alessio Picariello. Gounon and co-drivers Luca Stolz and Kenny Habul took seventh from Ricardo Feller/Klaus Bachler/Lauren Heinrich in the Earl Bamber Motorsport Porsche.

The race was red-flagged for almost 56 minutes after Johannes Zelger, who had just been waved past the safety car, hit the wall at MacPhillamy Park, and then the Tsunami RT Porsche spun at Forrests Elbow after a tap from Kai Allen. Ralf Aron hit him at full speed in the race-leading Craft Bamboo Mercedes-AMG and the track was almost completely blocked, forcing the officials to interrupt the race.

The polesitting Mercedes-AMG was in contention until the seventh hour, when Thomas Randle made contact with another car and struck a wall, losing three laps. Mostert and Cam Waters hauled the car back into contention until the clash with Ojeda.

Not long afterwards Christopher Mies emerged shaken but unhurt after his HRT Racing Ford Mustang had a fully-grown kangaroo come through its windscreen at 250km/h, wrecking the car and showering its cabin – and Mies – with mashed marsupial. Mies was unhurt but had to take two showers to remove the remains of the animal.

Christopher Mies reacts to 250km/h kangaroo crash: "I'm glad I'm standing here right now"

After a steady build-up to the race, another contender, the Johor Motor Racing Chevrolet Corvette of Earl Bamber/Nicky Catsburg/Alexander Sims, climbed to the lead mid-race. In the 10th hour Bamber hit the wall at The Dipper when the suspension broke, and retired on the spot.

Track action at sunset

The Pro Am Class winner was the GMR Mercedes-AMG of Dylan O’Keeffe, Brett Hobson and Garth Walden, in 13th outright.

The 111 Racing IRC GT of Darren Currie/Axle Donaldson/Daniel Studdert took Invitational Class honours (and 25th outright), while the sole GT4 starter, the Steven Aghakhani/Adrian Kunzle/Kevin Madsen Method Motorsport McLaren, took class honours (26th outright).

The Silver Class winner was the Volante Rosso McLaren of Marcos Flack/Ryan Gray/Bayley Hall/Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer, despite a spin by Gray. They finished 33rd.

The next round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge is the Nurburgring 24 Hours on 14-17 May.

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