Mostert Tops Opening Practice at Bathurst

Photo: Kevin Pecks/SRO

Chaz Mostert led an Audi 1-2 in the opening practice session for the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour.

Mostert jumped to the top of the time sheets with just two minutes remaining in the 40-minute session, having first reeled off a 2:04.260 prior to a second benchmark time of 2:04.087 in the No. 65 Melbourne Performance Centre-run Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.

The Australian’s time was 0.263 seconds quicker than the fellow Pro-Am class Audi of Frederic Vervisch, entered by Brad Schumacher Racing.

Mostert is sharing driving duties with Fraser Ross and Liam Talbot in this weekend’s race, which doubles as the opening round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli.

Tony D’Alberto also made a late-session improvement to put the No. 6 Wall Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo third quickest overall and the pace-setting Silver class entry.

Matt Campbell’s 2:04.549 in the No. 912 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R was good enough for fourth overall and best of the Pro class entries, while defending race-winning No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo completed the top-five.

The session saw all 26 cars turn laps with no red flag stoppages.

A Bronze-only practice gets underway at 11:05 a.m. local time, followed by a second Bronze session at 2 p.m. A fourth practice session of the day, for all Bathurst 12 Hour competitors, is scheduled for 4:10 p.m.

RESULTS: Practice 1

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John