The #32 BMW M4 driven by Kelvin van der Linde paced the first practice, clocking a 2:02.900s on his sixth lap of the session.
The South African driver headed the #75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG of Kenny Habul, Jules Gounon, and Luca Stolz.
Stolz set the car’s fastest lap late in the session, logging a 2:03.214s to end up 0.3s off the pace. His teammate Gounon began the session in that car.
“When I was the first car and I was driving the straight, I was like ‘Wow! I’m alone first lap?’ and I said ‘Hello sunshine, hello Mount Panorama, I hope you are good’ and I am happy to be back here on your track, it’s just so nice,” said three-time race winner Gounon.
“I hope I can come many, many, many more years and the event will last many, many, many long years because it’s the best. I love Australia, I love coming to Bondi Beach and having an avocado smash, a flat white with oat milk, we always enjoy it.”
The #888 Team GMR Mercedes-AMG was third and 0.521s away from the session’s quickest time.
Maxime Martin made a late surge in the session to fourth in the #46 Team WRT BMW M4 ahead of Lucas Auer for Craft-Bamboo Racing in its #77 Mercedes-AMG.
The surprise packet of the session was the #9 Hallmarc Racing Audi R8 LMS driven to sixth by Lee Holdsworth.
Behind them was the leading Pro-Am entry driven by Scott Andrews behind the wheel of the Tigani Motorsport Audi.
Tony D’Alberto was the quickest of the Silver entries in 11th for Wall Racing in its Lamborghini Huracan, 1.3s off the pace.
The 40-minute session ran incident-free.
Practice 2, which is for Bronze entries, is scheduled for 10:10am AEDT.
Results: Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour Practice 1
Pos | Num | Team | Drivers | Car | Class | Lap |
1 | 32 | Team WRT | Augusto Farfus/Kelvin van der Linde/Sheldon van der Linde | BMW M4 GT3 | PRO | 2:02.9000 |
2 | 75 | 75 Express | Kenny Habul/Jules Gounon/Luca Stolz | Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO | PRO | 2:03.2140 |
3 | 888 | Mercedes-AMG Team GMR | Maro Engel/Maxime Martin/Mikael Grenier | Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO | PRO | 2:03.4210 |
4 | 46 | Team WRT | Valentino Rossi/Charles Weerts/Rafaelle Marciello | BMW M4 GT3 | PRO | 2:03.8320 |
5 | 77 | Team Craft-Bamboo Racing | Maximilian Gotz/Lucas Auer/Jayden Ojeda | Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO | PRO | 2:03.8420 |
6 | 9 | Hallmarc / Team MPC | Marc Cini/Lee Holdsworth/Dean Fiore | Audi R8 LMS EVO II | BRO | 2:03.9010 |
7 | 44 | Geyer Valmont Racing | Sergio Pires/Marcel Zalloua/Scott Andrews | Audi R8 LMS EVO II | PAM | 2:03.9046 |
8 | 91 | The Bend Motorsport Park | Yasser Shahin/Sam Shahin/Laurin Heinrich/Morris Schuring | Porsche 911 GT3R (99 | PAM | 2:04.0802 |
9 | 26 | Arise Racing GT | Chaz Mostert/Will Brown/Daniel Serra | Ferrari 296 GT3 | PRO | 2:04.1602 |
10 | 911 | Absolute Racing | Matt Campbell/Ayhancan Guven/Alessio Picariello | Porsche 911 GT3R (99 | PRO | 2:04.1990 |
11 | 93 | Wall Racing | Adrian Deitz/Tony D’Alberto/Grant Denyer/Brendon Leitch | Lamborghini Huracan | SIL | 2:04.2026 |
12 | 36 | Arise Racing GT | Jaxon Evans/Brad Schumacher/Elliott Schutte/Alessio Rovera | Ferrari 296 GT3 | PAM | 2:04.3408 |
13 | 222 | Scott Taylor Motorsport | Craig Lowndes/Thomas Randle/Cameron Waters | Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO | PRO | 2:04.3750 |
14 | 4 | Grove Racing | Stephen Grove/Brenton Grove/Fabian Schiller | Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO | BRO | 2:04.6670 |
15 | 27 | Heart of Racing by SPS | Ross Gunn/Zacharie Robichon/Ian James | Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO | BRO | 2:04.7900 |
16 | 47 | Supabarn Supermarkets | James Koundouris/Theo Koundouris /David Russell/Luke Youlden | Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO | SIL | 2:05.4874 |
17 | 14 | Volante Rosso Motorsport | Jaylyn Robotham/Jamie Day/Mateo Villagomez | Aston Martin Vantage | SIL | 2:05.5540 |
18 | 183 | Jamec Racing / Team MPC | Liam Talbot/Broc Feeney/Ricardo Feller | Audi R8 LMS EVO II | PRO | 2:05.9370 |
19 | 50 | KTM Vantage Racing | David Crampton/Trent Harrison /Glen Wood | KTM XBow GT2 | I | 2:07.6120 |
20 | 19 | Nineteen Corporation | Mark Griffith/Adam Christodoulou/Daniel Bilski | Mercedes-AMG GT4 | GT4 | 2:15.8640 |
21 | 25 | Method Motorsport | Tom Hayman/Paul Buccini/Ryan Sorensen | McLaren Artura GT4 | GT4 | 2:17.7040 |
22 | 24 | Method Motorsport | Anthony Levitt/Jake Santalucia/Cameron Campbell | McLaren Artura GT4 | GT4 | 2:17.7140 |