It was a local-run Mercedes 1-2-3 in Practice 6 this morning at Bathurst as Cameron Waters topped the session in the #222 Scott Taylor Motorsport Mercedes, from the pair of Triple Eight Mercedes.
Waters took the top spot on the last lap of the session, setting a 2:02.9190 to eclipse Supercars rival Broc Feeney in the #888 National Storage Triple Eight Mercedes by less than three hundredths. Jordan Love rounded out the top 3 in the sister Triple Eight car, the #88 setting a 2:03.0965.
The session got underway with a quick FCY test, before teams slowly started to build the pace. The Porsches were looking particularly strong to start, holding the top three positions early in the session. Jules Gounon set the first lap in the 2:03’s just after the 20-minute mark, before a significant incident at McPhillamy Park.
The #20 Localsearch T2 Racing MARC IRC GT with Adam Hargraves at the wheel was pictured parked up on the inside grass verge at McPhillamy park, with significant damage to the rear of the car. Replays showed the MARC car out of the groove coming out of Sulmann Park, and hitting the wall at The Grate, which pitched the car to the inside wall, making a rear-end impact at the Vista.
While the damage is significant, Hargraves was able to get out of the car under his own steam, and looks to be okay. Whether or not the car can be repaired for qualifying this afternoon, or more importantly the race, is still to be determined.
BIG impact with the wall!
We remain under red flag at Mount Panorama.#B12HR pic.twitter.com/2UQoDXzmUl
— Bathurst 12 Hour (@Bathurst12hour) February 16, 2024
Great work from the trackside workers saw the session resume 12 minutes later, with the focus on getting into the top 15 places to ensure a run in Qualifying 2 later today. While the results will be combined, the difficulty of navigating traffic to set a lap time in Qually 1 will be of great concern to any of the GT3 teams stuck in that session.
With 10 minutes remaining in the session, the #2 KFC Audi was the surprise outside the top 15, while there was concern in the #911 Shell V-Power Porsche, #48 M-Motorsport Mercedes and #130 GruppeM Mercedes who were all on the bubble. Heart of Racing was also out of the 15, but a stellar lap from Ross Gunn brought the #27 Mercedes up from 20th position into the top 5.
Maro Engel improved in the #130 Gruppe M Mercedes, but only up to 12th, while Riccardo Feller in the #2 KFC Audi and Andrea Picariello in the #911 Shell V-Power Porsche were looking to secure places in the 15. Feller improved, only to 13th, while Picariello managed to jump up to 5th, pushing the #13 Phantom Team75 Bernhard Porsche out of the 15, with Feller back on the bubble.
It was looking to be a grandstand finish to the session, but the session was called to an early close due to an incident at Forrest’s Elbow. Trent Harrison was found parked in the tyres at the Elbow in the #50 KTM X-Bow GT2, causing a red flag.
Replays showed the KTM already out of control on the entry to the Elbow, hitting the wall on driver’s left before continuing down into the tyres. Witness marks on the right side of the car suggest that Harrison tagged the preceding corner on the inside, starting the accident.
With just moments to go in P6, this is not what you want to see!#B12HR pic.twitter.com/2r2ic0kn9g
— Bathurst 12 Hour (@Bathurst12hour) February 17, 2024
The early end to the session saw the #13 Phantom Team75 Bernhard car with Bastian Buus missing the cut, pushing them into the bottom half qualifying session later today. The other GT3 cars in that session are the #47 Supabarn Mercedes, the #48 M-Mototsport by Erebus Mercedes, and the #93 Wall Racing Lamborghini.
The top Invitational car was Nick Percat in the #10 Matt Stone Racing MARC IRC GT with a 2:06.3, while the #19 Nineteen Corp Mercedes topped GT4.
The cut-off time ended up being a 2:03.9, with the top 15 cars within a single second. The battle to be in the top 10 after qualifying, and to fight for the Allan Simonsen Pole Award, looks to be an extremely tight thing!
Qualifying kicks off with the bottom 15 cars at 12:40 local, before the top 15 get given the track at 13:30. The shootout, and the fight for the Allan Simonsen Pole Award, kicks off at 16:05.
Image courtesy of Tim Upietz (Gruppe C GmbH)
