Practice report
Endurance Bathurst 12 Hour
Bathurst 12 Hour: Schnitzer BMW tops first open practice
Bathurst rookie Augusto Farfus made a blistering start to the Bathurst 12 Hour weekend by topping the first open practice session.
Andrew van Leeuwen
Edited: Feb 2, 2018, 12:39 AM
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Times dropped dramatically throughout the opening half of the 45-minute session, going from the late 2m09s right down to a 2m04.149 set by Audi driver Robin Frijns on the 23-minute mark.
The next step came with 12 minutes to run, Supercars star Garth Tander lowering the benchmark to a 2m03.836s in the Audi Sport R8.
Just when that time looked unbeatable, and an Audi 1-2-3 was on the cards, DTM regular Farfus stormed to the classy end of the timesheet with a 2m04.490s. He then went on with it, putting the M6 he'll share with Chaz Mostert and Marco Wittmann on top with a 2m03.695.
The #22 Audi finished second thanks to that time from Tander, while the SRM M6 capped off a solid opening session for BMW with a 2m03.987s for Steve Richards/Philipp Eng/Timo Glock.
Fourth outright and first of the Pro-Am cars was the #777 International Audi of Andrew Bagnall, Matthew Halliday, and Johnny Reid, closely followed by another Pro-Am car in the YNA McLaren (Fraser Ross/Scott McLaughlin/Andrew Watson/Alexander West).
That earlier time from Frijns was ultimately only good enough for sixth for the #37 WRT Audi, leading the #777 Buik Lamborghini and the #11 Objective McLaren.
The #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes was ninth fastest, while the #74 Audi Sport entry rounded out the Top 10.
In terms of classes, the #23 Team Carrera Cup Asia Porsche led Class B, the BMW Team SRM M4 was fastest in Class C, and the #91 MARC II entry was best of the Invitational class.
Before that first open session, Stuart Leonard (#37 WRT Audi) topped a shorter session closed off to Platinum and Gold rated drivers.
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