BMW continued its strong start to the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour after edging Audi to the fastest time in third practice.
The #43 Schnitzer M6 GT3 of Chaz Mostert, Augusto Farfus and Marco Wittmann once again set the pace at Mount Panorama as times began to tumble.
Farfus, who was quickest in Practice 2, set the benchmark with a 2:03.42s on his Bathurst debut.
It proved to be tight at the top with 0.04s splitting the top two courtesy of Kelvin van der Linde in the #22 Jamec Pem Racing Audi R8 which he is sharing with Garth Tander and Fredrick Vervisch.
Audi occupied third spot following a strong effort from former Australian GT champion Chris Mies behind the wheel of the sister Jamec Pem Audi.
BMW’s fast start to the event was backed up by circuit rookie Philipp Eng, who was just 0.29s shy of the pace in the Steven Richards and Timo Glock BMW M6 GT3.
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Former Bathurst 12 Hour lap record holder Laurens Vanthoor put the Craft Bamboo Porsche into fifth.
Meanwhile, the #37 Audi Sport Team WRT R8, who topped Practice 1, finished sixth.
Competition Motorsports emerged as the top Pro-Am runner in seventh, while 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour runner-up Maxi Buhk finished eighth in the #56 Strakka Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Craig Lowndes posted a flying lap in the dying minutes of the 45 minute session to claim ninth in the #58 YNA Autosport McLaren he will share with Shane van Gisbergen and factory McLaren driver Come Ledogar.
Craig Baird completed the top 10 in the #8 Scott Taylor Motorsport Mercedes AMG GT3.
The #3 Audi Sport Customer Racing Australia entry was the fastest GT3 Am entry following Dylan O’Keeffe’s 2:05.37s effort.
The session was interrupted after five minutes when the Practice 2 Class B leaders Team Carrera Cup Asia stopped on track before returning to the action later on to top the class again.
Class C was headed by the BMW M4 GT4 of Aaron Seton, Matthew Brabham and Tony Longhurst.
The brand new MARC II Mustang of Will Brown, Rod Salmon and Keith Kassulke were fastest in the Invitational class.
A fourth and final Bathurst 12 Hour practice of the day is scheduled for 1335 local time.
Results: Practice 3
| Pos | Num | Team | Drivers | Car | Class | Time | Split |
| 1 | 43 | BMW M Power | A.Farfus M.Wittmann |
BMW M6 GT3 | APP | 2:03.4299 | |
| 2 | 22 | Valvoline / Jamecpem | G.Tander K.van der Linde |
Audi R8 LMS | APP | 2:03.4730 | 0:00.0431 |
| 3 | 74 | Valvoline Jamecpem | C.Mies C.Haase M.Winkelhock |
Audi R8 LMS | APP | 2:03.7018 | 0:00.2719 |
| 4 | 100 | Laser Plumbing and Electrical | T.Glock P.Eng |
BMW M6 GT3 | APP | 2:03.7224 | 0:00.2925 |
| 5 | 991 | EuroMechanica | Laurens Vanthoor | Porsche 911 GT3 R | APP | 2:03.8122 | 0:00.3823 |
| 6 | 37 | Audi Sport Team WRT | S.Leonard D.Vanthoor |
Audi R8 LMS | APP | 2:04.3363 | 0:00.9064 |
| 7 | 12 | Ice Break & Virgin Australia | P.Long M.Campbell |
Porsche 991 GT3R | APA | 2:04.4339 | 0:01.0040 |
| 8 | 56 | Mercedes-AMG Team Strakka | Maximilian Buhk | Mercedes AMG GT GT3 | APP | 2:05.0652 | 0:01.6353 |
| 9 | 58 | YNA Autosport | C.Lowndes C.Ledogar |
McLaren 650S GT3 | APP | 2:05.0819 | 0:01.6520 |
| 10 | 8 | WM Waste | Craig Baird | Mercedes AMG GT3 | APA | 2:05.1937 | 0:01.7638 |
| 11 | 3 | Audi Sport Customer Racing | D.O’Keeffe D.Gaunt |
Audi R8 LMS | AAM | 2:05.3775 | 0:01.9476 |
| 12 | 19 | Daimler Trucks Brisbane | J.Martin L.Talbot |
Mercedes GT | APA | 2:05.5628 | 0:02.1329 |
| 13 | 75 | Mercedes-AMG Team SunEnergy1 | T.Vautier R.Marciello |
Mercedes AMG GT3 | APP | 2:05.6859 | 0:02.2560 |
| 14 | 55 | Strakka Racing | Nick Leventis | Mercedes AMG GT GT3 | APP | 2:05.7011 | 0:02.2712 |
| 15 | 29 | Haemokinisis/Trofeo Estate | R.Millier I.Capelli |
Lamborghini Hurracan | APA | 2:06.2892 | 0:02.8593 |
| 16 | 9 | Hallmarc | M.Cini D.Fiore |
Audi R8 LMS | APA | 2:06.4043 | 0:02.9744 |
| 17 | 777 | The Bend Motorsport Park | Y.Shahin L.Youlden |
Lamborghini Gallardo | APA | 2:06.7038 | 0:03.2739 |
| 18 | 540 | Boston Athletic Club | T.Pappas L.Stolz M.Lieb |
Porsche 911 GT3 R | APA | 2:06.7350 | 0:03.3051 |
| 19 | 91 | MARC Cars Australia | K.Kassulke W.Brown |
MARC II V8 | I | 2:06.8188 | 0:03.3889 |
| 20 | 47 | YNA Autosport | F.Ross A.West |
McLaren 650S GT3 | APA | 2:06.8946 | 0:03.4647 |
| 21 | 17 | Bentley Team M-Sport | Jules Gounon | Bentley Continental | APP | 2:07.0796 | 0:03.6497 |
| 22 | 82 | “Bolt Masters, Castrol” | A.Bagnall J.Reid |
Audi R8 LMS | APA | 2:07.4350 | 0:04.0051 |
| 23 | 911 | Manthey-Racing | R.Dumas D.Werner |
Porsche 911 | APP | 2:07.4594 | 0:04.0295 |
| 24 | 11 | Objective Racing | Tim Slade | McLaren 650S | APA | 2:08.2633 | 0:04.8334 |
| 25 | 6 | Safe-T-Stop | R.Gartner H.Morrall D.Wall |
Lamborghini Gallardo | AAM | 2:08.3398 | 0:04.9099 |
| 26 | 69 | Supabarn | T.Koundouris D.Padayachee |
Audi R8 LMS | AAM | 2:09.2902 | 0:05.8603 |
| 27 | 66 | Daytona Sportscars | B.Schoots M.Caine |
Dodge Viper | I | 2:09.3658 | 0:05.9359 |
| 28 | 39 | Audi Sport Team WRT | P.Dalla Lana M.Lauda |
Audi R8 LMS | APA | 2:09.6015 | 0:06.1716 |
| 29 | 67 | Gotzinger Smallgoods | J.Camilleri A.Cameron |
MARC II V8 | I | 2:09.6603 | 0:06.2304 |
| 30 | 65 | Daytona Sportscars | Jamie Augustine | Daytona Coupe | I | 2:11.2999 | 0:07.8700 |
| 31 | 23 | Team Carrera Cup Asia | A.Tang C.Yi-Fan |
Porsche 991 | B | 2:11.9602 | 0:08.5303 |
| 32 | 94 | MARC Cars Australia | R.Thomson Z.Goddard |
MARC Mazda V8 | I | 2:13.0593 | 0:09.6294 |
| 33 | 4 | Grove Group | S.Grove B.Grove |
Porsche GT3 Cup | B | 2:14.0530 | 0:10.6231 |
| 34 | 18 | Bentley Team M-Sport | Andy Soucek | Bentley Continental | APP | 2:14.3447 | 0:10.9148 |
| 35 | 21 | The Porsche Broker | S.Fillmore A.Fawcet |
Porsche 911 | B | 2:14.8926 | 0:11.4627 |
| 36 | 96 | GAP Solutions / SEKTOR | J.Goodacre J.Love |
MARC Focus V8 | I | 2:15.7259 | 0:12.2960 |
| 37 | 95 | Eastgate Engineering | G.Taunton J.Busk |
MARC Focus V8 | I | 2:16.2220 | 0:12.7921 |
| 38 | 30 | Boat Works | Aaron Seton | BMW M4 | C | 2:16.7740 | 0:13.3441 |
| 39 | 85 | Paul Reed Smith Guitars | Joe Foster | Porsche 911GT3-Cup | B | 2:16.9909 | 0:13.5610 |
| 40 | 93 | MARC Cars Australia | G.Denyer T.Everingham |
MARC Mazda V8 | I | 2:17.6519 | 0:14.2220 |
| 41 | 44 | BP Ultimate | X.West C.Hill |
BMW M4 GT4 | C | 2:18.4260 | 0:14.9961 |
| 42 | 13 | JET Battery Services | D.Jorgensen K.Wittmer |
BMW M4 GT4 | C | 2:18.5413 | 0:15.1114 |
| 43 | 46 | Prosport Performance GABH | J.Viebahn M.Braams |
Porsche Cayman PRO4 | C | 2:18.8511 | 0:15.4212 |
| 44 | 54 | MARC Cars Australia | Chad Parrish | MARC II V8 | I | 2:19.3210 | 0:15.8911 |
| 45 | 15 | Trymax Mowing Systems | N.Allport M.Wilding-Spratt |
BMW M4 GT4 | C | 2:20.5350 | 0:17.1051 |
| 46 | 48 | Interlloy | T.Macrow C.Wood |
KTM X-Bow GT4 | C | 2:21.0623 | 0:17.6324 |
| 47 | 77 | Ginetta Australia | C.Cowham L.Kearns |
Ginetta G55 | C | 2:21.2906 | 0:17.8607 |
| 48 | 49 | Interlloy | Trent Harrison | KTM X-Bow GT4 | C | 2:23.2584 | 0:19.8285 |
| 49 | 40 | On Track Motorsport | Aaron Zerefos | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | 6:24.0783 | 4:20.6484 |
View Speedcafe.com’s comprehensive Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour Form Guide, presented by our platinum partner Mercedes-Benz.
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