The race attracted 51 entries, with 50 cars starting after one entry was withdrawn following a crash in practice. Cars competed across four classes: Class A for GT3 Outright (subdivided into Pro, Pro-Am and Am), Class B for GT3 Cup cars, Class C for GT4, and Class I for Invitational. The race was the debut appearance at Bathurst for Team WRT, the Belgian Audi squad.
The opening stages were eventful, with Chaz Mostert initially leading in a Melbourne Performance Centre Audi before a Safety Car was required less than half a lap into the race following a spin by John Goodacre. A series of incidents, safety car periods and changing weather conditions characterised the opening hours. Multiple manufacturer programmes — Audi, Bentley, Porsche, Mercedes-AMG, BMW and McLaren — rotated through contention as attrition affected the leading cars.
The MPC Audi of Markus Winkelhock and Kelvin van der Linde was among the leaders in the final hours. With under two hours remaining, van der Linde made an error while attempting to lap Bryce Fullwood's MARC Mazda around the outside of the Esses, sliding onto the marbles and into the fence, ending his race and altering the competitive order.
Manthey Racing ran a strong campaign with Romain Dumas and Frédéric Makowiecki, with the Porsche leading at various stages late in the race. However, as the final laps approached, the Team WRT Audi of Robin Frijns, Stuart Leonard and Dries Vanthoor found itself in contention despite nearly losing a lap earlier in the race.
With under 15 minutes remaining, Bryce Fullwood's MARC Mazda suffered a failure on the ratchet straps holding the front splitter together, leading to contact with Ashley Walsh's Audi. John Martin in a Mercedes could not avoid the stricken Audi and struck it side-on at full speed, leaving both drivers with minor injuries. Race control first called a Safety Car, then red-flagged the event. With a television broadcast window requiring the race to finish at 17:45 AEDT, officials declared the race with the result frozen.
The decision gave Team WRT, Robin Frijns, Stuart Leonard and Dries Vanthoor victory — all of them on their debut at Bathurst. It was the team's first Bathurst 12 Hour win and demonstrated the growing strength of Belgian GT operations in international endurance racing.
Chaz Mostert attracted significant criticism late in the race when, while charging through the field in the Schnitzer Motorsport BMW, he impatiently bumped Kevin Estre's Porsche on the approach to Forrests Elbow before then colliding with Steven Kane's Bentley while attempting to pass, eliminating Kean Booker's Class B Porsche in the process. Both the BMW and the Bentley were severely damaged; the BMW was retired and the Bentley continued several laps down. Mostert later received a fine of AU$2,000, half of which was suspended. Veteran Tony Longhurst drove what was described as his last ever racing stint, taking over a GT4-class BMW in the closing hours.
Robin Frijns, Stuart Leonard and Dries Vanthoor won in the Team WRT Audi R8 LMS, with the race declared ten minutes early due to the multi-car incident. The Australian Tourist Trophy was awarded to the winning crew. The fastest race lap was set by Chaz Mostert at 2:01.9575 on lap seven.