The #32 WRT BMW leads from pole in the first hour of the Repco Bathurst 12 Hours.
Top 11 cars still within 10 seconds as sunlight breaks across Mount Panorama.
It has been a steady start to the Repco Bathurst 12 Hour, with a clean start to the race in the darkness before dawn.
It’s the #32 WRT BMW of Sheldon van der Linde who leads the field from pole, with Mikael Grenier in the #888 National Storage Triple Eight Mercedes hot on his heels.
The top 11 cars are still within 10 seconds after an hour of running, with all of the pro cars in a leading pack, joined by the #88 Triple Eight Mercedes and the #911 Shell V-Power/The Bend Porsche, who are in the mix as well.
Luke Youlden leads Silver in the #44 Valmont Tigani Audi down in 15th, while the Invitational class is being led by Tim Slade in the #91 Wheels/FX MARC II. GT4 is being led by Chaz Mostert, who started the #25 Method Motorsport McLaren Artura.
It hasn’t quite been a trouble-free morning, with two cars running into trouble in the very early stages of the race.
For the Vortex, the issue was pre-race, with Amarouche tagging the wall at Forrest Elbow on the sighting lap, and being forced straight back into the lane for urgent repairs. The team worked feverishly on the rear of the car, banging away to fit a new rear wing in a race against time to make the start of the lane. Just 3 minutes before the start of the race, the #701 Vortex 1.0 was fired up in the lane, and the team let out a sigh of relief as their car joined the tail of the field.
It’s been a bigger problem for the #56 Nineteen Corp Ginetta. Owen Hizzey brought the G55 into the lane after just 25 minutes, with the rear smoking heavily. Fire marshals intervened, with Hizzey jumping out of the car about 50m from pit entry.
“The driveshaft let go after the back straight,” said Hizzey to the host broadcaster. “Then it caught fire.”
“We’d prefer it to be at the start of the race then at the end of the race… It should be easy to get it back out.”
While the team is working hard on a rear driveshaft and bodywork change, the car is still in the garage.
It has overall been a surprisingly clean race so far, but that is sure to change as the track warms up and the battles do the same.
Pics: Gruppe C Photography
