Audi quickest in Bathurst 12 Hour Bronze practice despite dramas

Liam Talbot was already fastest when he wheeled the #22 R8 LMS GT3 evo II to a 2:06.1193s with the chequered flag out, moments before team-mate Brad Schumacher jumped to fourth in the sister #2 entry despite spending almost all of the 40-minute second practice session in the pits.

Splitting them were 2022 and 2023 race winner Kenny Habul with a late 2:06.3377s in the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG which, like the aforementioned Audis, is in fact entered in the Pro class despite one of its drivers being a Bronze, and Yasser Shahin on a 2:07.3988s in the #911 Manthey EMA Porsche.

The field was necessarily thinner for Practice 2 but there were still several notables getting behind the wheel at Mount Panorama, including Habul.

Notable also was the Gold-ranked Jack Le Brocq’s name on the timing screen initially, in the #48 M-Motorsport Mercedes-AMG, although it turned out that it was Garth Walden setting the early pace in that car.

Walden set a 2:15.7264s on his first flyer and a 2:09.5608s on his second, before shifting the benchmark even further to a 2:07.6862s on his fourth lap.

Habul and Shahin had been trading second place before the latter moved into top spot with a 2:07.3988s on his seventh lap, just prior to the halfway mark.

Habul hit back immediately with three consecutive new fastest laps – a 2:07.3737s, a 2:07.2269s, and a 2:07.0018s – before finally bringing an end to his first run after 11 laps.

Meanwhile, the #22 MPC Audi which was quickest in Practice 1, in the hands of Kelvin van der Linde, was sitting fourth on a 2:07.8592s despite Talbot only starting the session after 13 minutes had elapsed.

The #2 MPC Audi was still sitting in the garage, on its stands, until Schumacher was finally released with five minutes to go for his first laps of the weekend around his local track.

As Schumacher completed his out lap, Talbot put MPC back into the ascendancy with a 2:06.2222s in Car #22, meaning Habul’s subsequent 2:06.8417s was a consolidation of second place.

When the chequered flag came out, Talbot set his 2:06.1193s, Schumacher jumped from 14th to fourth, and Habul improved by half a second, although it was not enough to topple Talbot.

The #48 Mercedes-AMG finished fifth with Justin McMillan behind the wheel courtesy of Walden’s earlier lap time, ahead of the Silver class pace-setting #44 Valmont Racing/Tigani Motorsport Audi thanks to the exploits of Marcel Zalloua, then the #88 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes-AMG in seventh piloted by Prince Jefri Ibrahim.

Practice 3, an all-in session, starts at 13:30 local time/AEDT/UTC +11.

Results: Practice 2 Bronze drivers