Bathurst 12 Hour: Mostert stars as practice continues

Despite limited GT3 experience, Mostert stormed to the top of the times right at the flag with a 2m03.312s, the first and so far only time under the 2m034s barrier all weekend.

The time put the M6 GT3 on top by a whopping 0.9s, despite Mostert dropping four-tenths on his first sector to Jamie Whincup, who looked odds-on to top the session before the late heroics from the MARC driver.

Mostert’s time meant the #90 car led the session not only in outright terms, but also in terms of the Am class, with part-timers Morgan Haber and Max Twigg completing the driver line-up.

While he ultimately missed out on top spot, it was still an impressive effort from Whincup. After Toni Vilander put the #88 car on top in this morning’s first session, it was Whincup who led the way in the second hour-long practice. The six-time Supercars champion jumped to the top with 15 minutes to go with a 2m04.419s, before improving to a 2m04.248 several laps later.

Whincup then looked as if he’d go quicker again, setting purple times in Sectors 1 and 2 before diving into pitlane and not completing the lap.

Andy Soucek was third fastest in the #8 Bentley, like Mostert setting his time as the flag fell. The car spent some time near the top of the order early in the session thanks to Maxime Soulet’s 2m04.704s, before Soucek improved to 2m04.583s on his final flying lap.

Fan favourite Katsumasa Chiyo wound up fourth fastest in the #23 Nissan GT-R, thanks to a 2m04.598s with six minutes to go. There was bad news for the #24 Nissan, however, with Florian Strauss tagging the wall at the grate. While he was able to drive it back to the pits, there are emerging reports of chassis damage, casting doubt of the car’s ongoing participation.

The #22 car was again the best-placed Mercedes in fifth thanks to Maro Engel’s early 2m04.802, while Marco Wittmann put the #60 BMW Team SRM M6 in sixth place with a 2m04.941s.

Laurens Vanthoor led the way for Porsche in #911 Walkinshaw GT3 entry with seventh, ahead of the #32 Lago Lamborghini (which was also the second-best Am car), the #75 Jamec Pem Audi, and the #59 Tekno McLaren.

The best-placed Pro-Am entry was the #61 Hog’s Mercedes, which finished 11th thanks to David Reynolds’s 2m05.807s.

In the other classes, the #92 MARC Focus led the way in Invitational (33rd outright), while the Grove Porsche retained top spot in Class B (34th outright). Class C was topped by the #19 PROsport Performance Porsche (46th outright).