Kelvin van der Linde has helped Audi complete a clean sweep of Friday practice at The Mountain, topping the final practice session of the day. Van der Linde set a 2:03.9569 to complete the day in the #74 Audisport Team Valvoline machine, and was the only driver in the 2:03’s in the session.
The top 3 was completed by the #65 CoinSpot Audi at the hands of Chaz Mostert, and a late lap by Maro Engel in the #91 Craft Bamboo Mercedes AMG, setting the day’s best first sector on his way to third place.
Starting just after twilight, the session was halted after only 10 minutes of running to allow clean up of debris at the end of Conrod Straight. With the session extended a further 10 minutes, the drivers experienced a full transition from twilight into dusk, and into almost full darkness.
The top 5 was rounded out by the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG and the #777 Audisport Team Valvoline Audi. Jules Gounon in the #75 was one of the early pace setters, with a 2:04.4064 his best lap. Winkelhock was the only driver of the #777, and was the last of the drivers in the 2:04’s.
In order to be allowed to start the race, the technical regulations dictate that a driver must complete 2 flying laps in tonight’s FP4. This means that Markus Winkelhock will start the #777, and Broc Feeney will start the #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes AMG.
The #888 Triple Eight Mercedes was delayed to start the session due to ongoing repairs after a moment in FP3 for Prince Jefri Ibrahim. Feeney ended the session in 9th overall, but importantly, with 12 laps completed.
Nineteen cars made the track for FP4; the #47 Supabarn Audi R8 was absent after their accident in FP3 at Reid Park. While the car is 50/50 at this stage, news from the team is that Theo Koundouris will be out for the rest of the weekend after suffering a concussion. The team will continue as a trio, provided the car can be repaired, or replaced.
The car, now confirmed, will need to be replaced with chassis damage. A spare car is en route from Melbourne but will need to be converted to Evo2 spec on site.
The LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 hour continues tomorrow, with FP5 at 8:05am Local time (AEST), followed by FP6 at 10:00.
The two Qualifying sessions kick off with the Bronze-only Q1 at 13:20, followed by Q2 at 13:55, and the top 10 Shootout to award pole position and the Allan Simonsen award at 16:10.
Qualifying will be broadcast on Fox Sports and it’s streaming counterpart Kayo as well as the 7 Network in Australia, and will be available for international viewers via the Bathurst12hour website and the SRO GT World Youtube Channel.
Pics copyright and courtesy Supercars Events
