Bathurst 12 Hour: Maranello Ferrari leads opening practice
Toni Vilander put the #88 Maranello Ferrari 488 GT3 on top in the opening practice session for the 2017 Bathurst 12 Hour.
#88 Maranello Motorsport, Ferrari 488 GT3: Toni Vilander, Craig Lowndes, Jamie Whincup
Daniel Kalisz
The Finn set the benchmark time early in the one-hour session, Vilander’s 2m04.192s – at the time, well over two seconds faster than anyone else – keeping the all-star Ferrari he’ll share with Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes on top until the end.
Not that he did all the heavy lifting for the #88 entry; Supercars legend Whincup, making his debut in GT3 machinery this weekend, put in one of the most impressive laps of the session when he set a 2m04.826s with nine minutes to go. It was to that point the second fastest lap of the session.
In the end it was another Supercars star and GT3 virgin that popped up second fastest, Mark Winterbottom putting in a 2m04.373s with just under five minutes remaining in the #60 BMW Team SRM M6 GT3 that he’ll share with Marco Wittmann and Steve Richards.
It was a pair of Audis next in line, the #75 Jamec Pem entry of Markus Winkelhock/Robin Frijns/Frank Stippler in third with a 2m05.002s, leading the #74 car of Garth Tander/Chris Mies/Chris Haase and its 2m05.016s.
The best-placed Nissan GT-R was fifth fastest, Katsumasa Chiyo setting a 2m05.136s right at the death in the #23 entry. That was enough to knock Timo Glock down to sixth, the former Formula 1 driver putting in an impressive 2m05.300s in the #7 BMW Team SRM M6 GT3 he’ll share with Mark Skaife, Tony Longhurst, and Russell Ingall.
Maro Engel set the pace for Mercedes, the German seventh fastest in the #22 HTP Motorsport AMG GT3. Next in line was the #11 Objective McLaren, which was the best of the Pro-Am entries.
The #1 Tekno McLaren was ninth fastest, ahead of the #5 GT Motorsports Audi in 10th, which was the best placed Am car.
Behind the GT3 cars, Group B was led by the #4 Grove Motorsport Porsche (28th outright), Group I the #65 Daytona Sportscars Viper (29th outright), and Group C the #55 RA Motorsports Ginetta (45th outright).
The second all-in practice session of the day will be held at 12:35pm local time.
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments