Sunshine greeted the LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 Hour for the first sessions of the weekend; a free-driver Practice 1 followed by a Bronze-only Practice 2. With support category action in the morning clearing the track and creating a dry line, lap times were close to the representative pace of dry running.
The session was topped by Ricardo Feller at the seat of the #777 Audisport Team Valvoline R8, finishing up with a 2:04.5150 with the last lap of the session.
He took the time from reigning champion Jules Gounon, who set a 2:04.9079 at the seat of the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG. Gounon’s last lap of the session eclipsing Feller’s previous best lap by three thousandths of a second, before Feller’s final timed lap put him almost 4 tenths ahead of the field.
Tony D’Alberto rounded out the top 3 in the #6 Wall Racing Lamborghini Huracan, followed by Cameron Waters in the #24 C Tech Laser Audi, with the top half of the field sitting below a 2:06 lap time. The top Am-class car was the #47 Supabarn Audi at the hands of David Russell, who set a 2:05.2990 to sit in 5th place.
The best Invitational class car was the #50 M-Motorsport KTM, with Dale Wood setting a 2:06.9561 in the car’s second competitive outing, ending the session in 13th. The Invitational class runs to an index time of 2:06.0000, and it will be interesting to see how close the team can get to that marker.
Craig Lowndes brought the #222 Scott Taylor Motorsport Porsche to the head of the Carrera Cup class in 16th overall, with all cars getting a decent run in the opening 30 minutes. A front-right puncture was observed for the #45 RAM Motorsport Mercedes with Garth Walden behind the wheel, but that car was back out on circuit after a quick tyre change.
Practice 2 saw the Bronze Drivers given free reign of the track, allowing them the chance to come to grips with the circuit and the conditions. The lap times steadily improved, with Bathurst local Brad Schumacher in the #74 AudiSport Team Valvoline machine ending the session on top with a 2:06.5805, just ahead of the team car, Yasser Shahin in the #777 setting a 2:06.7821. The two Audi’s traded times at the top, and were the only two cars to end the session in the 2:06’s.
Rounding out an all-Audi top 3 was Liam Talbot in the #65 CoinSpot Audi, who finished with a 2:07.65. Talbot was on an improving lap when the session was red flagged with 2 minutes remaining, bringing the session to a premature close.
The M-Motorsport #50 KTM X-Bow GT2 was determined to be the culprit, running into suspected engine issues and pulling off the track at The Chase.
Kenny Habul was the best of the Mercedes, putting the SunEnergy1 #75 car into fourth, with Tony Bates in the #24 C Tech Laser Audi rounding out the top 5.
The #19 Nineteen Corporation Mercedes AMG was the only car not to make it out on track in Practice 2. At this stage, the reason for their absence is unknown.
Practice 3 gets underway at 15:15 local time, for a 40 minute Bronze-Only session.
Pics by Andrew “Skippy” Hall
