Practice 1
AUDI and BMW have topped the opening two practice sessions ahead of this weekend’s Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour.
Practice 1 was taken out by the #37 Audi Sport Team WRT Audi, jumping to the top of the timing sheets right at the end of the session ahead of the #47 YNA Autosport McLaren in a fairly uneventful 30-minute session which was restricted to the only the Silver and Bronze rated drivers.
The second session, at 45-minutes in length for all drivers, was topped by the #43 BMW Team Schnitzer M6 GT3 of Augusto Farfus, with an impressive lap time of 2:03.695s.
In Class B, Team Carrera Cup Asia ended up fastest in Practice 2 with their #23 car, while BMW Team SRM were quickest of the GT4 cars in Class C.
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MARC Cars Australia topped Class I with their #91 Gen II MARC Mustang, from the #66 Daytona Sportscars Australia Dodge Viper who ended up second in class.
“I think in the first session, everybody just tries to find themselves, the track is still pretty green,” said Farfus after the session.
“For me it was the first time out and it was quite impressive. The track, it is a cool location, nice, I’m really enjoying it and the car so far is going well. We put the car on P1, so it’s a good start to the weekend.”
The first of the sessions had a delay in getting underway after the Black Swan Racing Porsche had a wheel depart from the car heading up Mountain Straight on it’s out-lap.
Safety crews managed to recover the car back to the paddock, however on the back of a flat-bed truck as the session resumed.
Practice 2
When Practice 2 got underway, Steven Richards went straight to the top aboard the #100 BMW Team SRM M6 GT3, before he was bettered by the #991 Craft Bamboo Porsche.
Lap times started to tumble as the session elapsed with the Jamec Pem Audis holding the top two spots for over 5-minutes until multiple cars, including the #777 Buik Motorsports Lamborghini and #11 Objective Racing McLaren began to trade fastest laps.
Our @MSportLtd team then set to work transforming an empty pit garage into a space fit for the @Bathurst12hour. By 7am, it was all-but ready… pic.twitter.com/O8pWNUtudU
— Bentley Motorsport (@BentleyRacing) February 2, 2018
The #37 WRT dropped into the low 2min 4s as the clock ticked over the half hour mark in the session, while at the same time, the Bentley Team M-Sport Continental GT3s ventured out onto the circuit after only being delivered to the track at 3:30am this morning.
The #22 Jamec Pem Audi was the first to dip into the 2mins 3s, as the #43 BMW Team Schnitzer car jumped up the order in the closing stages to the top spot.
Finishing up Practice 2 in second was the #22 Audi, while the #100 BMW Team SRM M6 ended up third fastest.
Fourth quickest was the #82 International Motorsport Audi and rounding out the top ten was the #47 YNA Autosport McLaren.
Practice 3
THE #43 BMW Team Schnitzer M6 GT3 has gone fastest by 0.04s in the third practice session of the weekend ahead of the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour.
Augusto Farfus set a 2:03.429s in the 45-minute hit out aboard the car before handing the M6 over to his co-drivers for the rest of the session.
Jamec Pem Racing’s #22 Audi ended the session second quickest from the sister #74 car, making it three German brands in the top three, with a mere 0.2s covering the three cars.
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Fourth fastest was the #100 BMW Team SRM M6 while Craft-Bamboo Racing rounded out the top five.
Leading the time sheets in Class B was the #23 Team Carrera Cup Asia Porsche, which experienced issues at the beginning of the session after it briefly stopped out on track causing a red flag.
The car managed to return to pit lane under it’s own steam with what was believed to be a miss-firing issue, while Grove Racing took out second in class with the #4 car.
Boat Works Racing claimed the top spot in Class C with their #30 BMW M4 GT4, from a similar car of BMW Team SRM who grabbed second with the #44.
In Class I, the #91 MARC Cars Australia Mustang took the honours ahead of the #66 Daytona Sportscars Australia Dodge Viper in second.
The #22 Jamec Pem Audi of Garth Tander lead the times early on from the #12 Competition Motorsports Porsche ahead of a raft of other Audis.
Just as the 20-minute mark ticked over, the #43 Schnitzer BMW of Farfus jumped to the top with a 2:04.226, while the #100 BMW Team SRM car of Timo Glock slotted into P2.
Farfus, who also topped Practice 2 earlier in the day, improved on his time a lap later to knock the benchmark down to a 2:03.429 which ultimately ended up being the fastest lap of the session.
As it moved into the final 10-minutes, Laurens Vanthoor nicked third place aboard the #991 Craft-Bamboo Racing Porsche as the two Jamec Pem Audis continued to run strong in the top five.
After being pipped down the order slightly, the #74 Audi moved itself into third during the closing stages of the session as further down the field, the #56 Mercedes-AMG Team Strakka Racing car occupied eighth.
The #911 Manthey-Racing Porsche finished up in 24th overall, while the two Bentley’s took out 17th and 34th overall.
Needing recovery from the top of the Mountain after the checkered flag was the #11 Objective Racing McLaren 650s GT3, which stopped on track out of the way during the session.
Practice 4
THE #22 Jamec Pem Racing Audi of Kelvin van der Linde, Garth Tander and Frederic Vervisch were the fastest in the opening day of track action at the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour.
Vervisch set the quickest time of the day, a 2:03.136 – the fastest lap ever on a Friday in the Bathurst 12 Hour – in the fourth practice session which was ended early after a red flag.
The stoppage, which came with 14-minutes to go, was caused after a crash at The Chase involving the #8 Scott Taylor Motorsport Mercedes and the #15 Baigent Motorsport BMW M4 GT4.
Race control opted to not restart the session and called it with just under 10-minutes to go, handing second place to the #43 BMW Team Schnitzer M6 GT3, and third place to the other #74 Jamec Pem Audi.
Class B was taken out by the #23 Team Carrera Cup Asia Porsche, while the #46 Prosport Performance Porsche Cayman was quickest in Class C.
Meanwhile, the #67 MARC Cars Australia entry topped the time sheets in the Invitational Class.
Within the first ten minutes of the session, laps times were already into the 2:03s with Chaz Mostert the first, putting his #43 Schnitzer BMW M6 on the top spot with a 2:03.734.
Christopher Mies bettered Mostert’s lap though, moving the benchmark to a 2:03.648 aboard the #74 Jamec Pem Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3, while Robin Frijns in the #37 Audi Sport Team WRT car was running strongly in third.
Markus Winkelhock, who took over the #74 car from Mies, got the Audi back up to the top spot with just under 30-minutes to go in the session.
In the final 15-minutes, Vervisch went fastest in the #22 Jamec Pem Audi, while Marco Wittmann nabbed second aboard the #43 BMW after taking over from Mostert.
The red flag was thrown with 14-minutes to go in the session when the #8 Mercedes and #15 BMW went off at The Chase.
Mercedes-AMG Team Strakka Racing had a power steering fluid leak mid-way through the session, hampering its drivers from getting laps in, while the #32 Lago Racing Lamborghini returned to the circuit – finishing sixth fastest – after the team had to change an engine between practice sessions.
Words from Bathurst 12 Hour PR team
