The first day of the Bathurst 12 Hours has been an example of a ‘macedonia’ of situations and conditions. The day began with a wet track and ended with a night session. Between these two free, two more sessions for the ‘Bronze’ drivers. A lot of activity and work on the track without major incidents on a day in which the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II have been constantly in the lead. The fastest time of the day has been Kelvin Van der Lindecuriously in the free night session.
The activity in Mount Panorama began with a first practice session with a track still wet from the rains on Thursday. A first contact in which Richard Feller he was the fastest driver with the Audi #777 of Team Valvoline. The Swiss driver led the #75 Mercedes of the SunEnergy1 team that Luca Stolz and Jules Gounon shared during the session by just over three tenths. For its part, the only Lamborghini present in Bathurst, with number 6 and under the management of Wall Racing, finished third.
After the first 30 minutes of the session, FP1 became FP2 and was reserved for ‘Bronze’ drivers. A scenario in which Audi’s dominance did not dissipate either, since the #74 of Team Valvoline got the best time thanks to Brad Schumacher. Yasser Shahin finished in his wake with the #777 Audi, while third place went to Liam Talbot’s #65 Audi. Even if the track conditions were better than in FP1, no ‘Bronze’ driver had a chance of overtaking the professional drivers. Besides, the session ended with a red flag due to a breakdown of one of the two KTM 6T2 X BOW.
Liam Talbot slipped to the top of the time table with the #65 Audi in FP3, again session reserved for ‘Bronze’ pilots. However, it was not all good news for the Ingolstadt firm, as Theo Koundouris suffered a spectacular accident with the Audi #47 of the Supabarn team mid session. A mishap that caused a red flag of fifteen minutes after which the best times arrived. Talbot set a 2:06.216 to beat Team Valvoline’s Audi by four and five tenths.
FP4, the most important session of the day due to being played in night conditions, ended with Kelvin Van der Linde at the top of the standings after setting a time of 2:03.956 with the Audi #74 of Team Valvoline. Chaz Mostert finished three tenths in the #65 Audi, while Maro Engel was placed third with the Mercedes #91, a vehicle in which Dani Juncadella also competes -fifth fastest time of the session-. The ‘top5’ of the session were completed by the Mercedes #75 led by Jules Gouonon and the Audi #777, this time in the hands of Markus Winkelhock.
Photos: Intercontinental GT Challenge