Tyres
Tyres have been the talk of the weekend, with the new-to-Bathurst Pirelli P-Zero DHF proving to be a challenge for the experienced teams and newcomers alike. In Qualifying and the free practice sessions, most cars took 4-5 laps before hitting their outright pace, and combined with a high minimum tyre pressure of 1.4 Bar mandated by the regulations, drivers have been complaining of the tyres very quickly becoming overpressured.
“It’s another huge change,” commented Ricardo Feller of the #777 The Bend Motorsport Park Audi. “I think they are a bit more consistent over the long run, but we know [this tyre] from last year in Europe.”
Bathurst local Brad Schumacher had quite a bit to say about the tyre after Friday’s running
“We struggled a little bit today, just finding a setup with the car with the new tyre. We found it understeered a little, and there’s been quite a few changes to our base setup.”
On the minimum tyre pressures, Brad said “the tyres are ballooning out over 2.0 bar and we’re starting to lose the rear a little across the top. It would be nicer for everybody up and down the lane if they were to drop that minimum pressure down.”
The minimum tyre pressure mandate has been a common part of the Australian Supercars Championship, and teams have come up with various methods of skirting the requirements in order to achieve the maximum performance. It was noted early in the day that the two Triple Eight Race Engineering cars, the #888 Supercheap Auto and #99 Boost Mobile Mercedes, had put their tyres out the back of the garage and in the sun, bleeding them down ahead of qualifying.
Ahead of qualifying and the shootout, cycling the tyres and preparing them for the ultimate lap became a point of difference, with each team going about it in a different way. The Mercedes appeared to be able to get the tyres in the window immediately and start lapping quicker, whereas the Audi, BMW and Porsche had to cycle the tyres up slowly. Manthey EMA even brought Campbell back in during the shootout to bleed the tyres back down to the minimum pressure in order to coax the ultimate performance out of the car.
Invitational class reduced to two entries
An unfortunate Bathurst 12 Hour trend has continued, with two cars already out of the weekend due to accident damage, both in the invitational class.
The #52 Wheels/FX MARC II V8 was destroyed in yesterday’s FP4 accident, and while there was the availability of a replacement chassis, with Keith Kassulke still recovering in hospital, the team elected not to take on another car.
Geoff Taunton, who is competing in the 12 hour in the #111 MRA Motorsport MARC I Mazda, offered the MARC II chassis he’s been racing to great effect in the Combined Sedans support category this weekend.
“We had that option for them,” Geoff said. “Keith’s not well enough to run, then there’s no point. It’s time to call it there.”
Another victim of The Mountain was the #66 SIN R1, which crashed at the top of the mountain during FP6. The car was seen resting in the tarmac run-off in The Esses at a sharp angle, with reports from the top of the mountain suggesting the car had hit the wall at McPhillamy.
DSC caught up with Shane Woodman who was at the wheel at the time of the incident.
Shane commented that he was too early on the throttle at McPhillamy, spinning the rear wheels, which sent him into the inside wall.
The diagnosis of front and rear chassis damage was too much to repair at the track, with the team dismantling the car and assessing the damage for transport back to the shop.
While still on the entry, the Invitational class has also lost the KTM X-Bow GT2 after engine troubles yesterday. This reduces the 5 car Invitational entry down to 2; the #19 Nineteen Corporation Mercedes, and the #111 MRA Motorsport MARC I Mazda.
Red Bull Demonstrations
On track today were demonstration laps from the Red Bull organisation, featuring the 2011 RB7 Formula 1 Car, and a prototype Gen 3 Camaro Supercar.
Liam Lawson was at the wheel of the RB7, for his first ever laps of Mount Panorama.
“That’s probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life!” Lawson said after stepping out.
“It was completely flat through the chase… it handled the bumps well, over the top it was really fast.
“Doing something like this in a car I grew up watching… it’s pure fun.”
Thank you to the host media for the supplied quotes.
Qualifying and the Shootout.
There were a few interesting points to come out of today’s qualifying and shootout sessions.
Firstly, the requirement for Pro-Am teams to run their Am driver – who by regulation must be rated Bronze – severely hampered their chances on making the top 10 shootout. The Silver Cup teams by comparison were able to run a Silver-rated driver in both sessions, which proved pivotal for the #44 Valmont Racing Mercedes cracking into the top 10.
A consequence was that Richie Stanaway, despite being one of the 9 drivers to set a 2:01, missed the shootout by an aggregate time of over a second.
In the Shootout, the track continued to rubber up and improve, with the best lap, Maro Engel’s 2:00.8819, being set on the final flying lap of the session. In fact, no cars from Q1 managed to improve into the top 5.
Allan Simonsen Pole Award
Maro Engel becomes only the third driver to qualify on pole at the 12 Hour twice, after Chaz Mostert (2018, 2022) and Steve Owen, who qualified on pole in 2009 and 2010 in the production-car era of the event at the seat of a Mitsubishi Lancer. In addition, Engel becomes the second driver to win the Allan Simonsen Pole award, 9 years after he won the inaugural award in 2014. On that occasion, he also set a new Qualifying record, a positively glacial 2:03.8586.
“It’s special. And it’s nine years since the first Allan Simonsen Pole, and that was a year after he passed away.” Engel said in the post-session conference. “I’m thinking of him today.”
“It was super emotional back then, and it still is today. It means a lot. To do it with what is the best lap in a GT car here is extra special.”
Pole position has gone on to win the race overall on five occasions, but only three of those have been in the GT3 era. The last car to do so was the #88 Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 488 in 2017, at the hands of Toni Vilander, Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup. The lowest grid slot the race has been won from is 11th, belonging to the Bentley Team M-Sport team in 2020.
With thanks to David Greenhalgh for qualifying stats.
