The Bathurst 12 Hour cars were on track for the first time at 08:50 with the first track session reserved for the Bronze and Silver-rated drivers, 28 of the 40 cars out in the session.
With clear skies, sunshine but a cooling wind there was no shortage of locals complaining of the cold.
With a 9am ambient of 20 degrees there will be little sympathy from those in Europe reading these words! Temps are expected to reach c.26 degrees later today
Mathias Lauda topped the times in the #51 Spirit of Race Ferrari, his late session 2:06.863 edging out the earlier effort from Josh Burdon in the #35 KCMG Nissan (2:06.935) Kenny Habul in the SunEnergy1 AMG was the only man in the 2:07s (2:07.240), ahead of Yasser Shahin in the Erebus/ The Bend AMG ad Paul Tracy’s first effort in the MARC Mustang – heading up class I in 2:08.104.
Richard Muscat was sixth fastest in the session, topping Class B in the #43 Ashley Seward Porsche (2:08.567) – Fastest in Class C for the GT4 cars was the #55 Ginetta in the hands of Karl Reindler – 2:18.357
The session was red flagged after an incident involving the #3 Audi, the car flat-bedded back with damage front and rear, Pete Storey had been at the wheel.
The recovery of the Audi saw a delayed start for FP2, it finally got underway at 09:50 – 15 minutes later than scheduled.
Post-session Audi Sport confirmed to DSC that the #3 is a likely withdrawal. Chassis damage after an impact with the wall on the exit of The Chase, Chris Reinke’s team are looking for a solution.
