Bathurst rookie Augusto Farfus set an impressive early marker for the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour as BMW topped the times in Practice 2.
The BMW factory driver quickly adapted to the challenging Mount Panorama circuit by posting a 2:03.69s effort in an uninterrupted 45 minute session for the entire 53 car field.
Farfus’ time arrived in the dying minutes, demoting the #22 Jamec Pem Audi R8 of Garth Tander to second, who had set the initial pace.
The Brazilian is sharing the Schnitzer factory BMW with Chaz Mostert and two-time DTM champion Marco Wittmann.
“I think in the first session, everybody just tries to find themselves, the track is still pretty green,” said Farfus.
“For me it was the first time out and it was quite impressive. The track, it is a cool location, nice, I’m really enjoying it and the car so far is going well. We put the car on P1, so it’s a good start to the weekend.”
Audi started the session strong but it was BMW who filled third spot courtesy of ex-Formula 1 driver Timo Glock in the #100 Steven Richards, Philipp Eng M6 GT3.
The YNA Autosport McLaren, driven by Scott McLaughlin, was fourth in his first Mount Panorama session in a GT3 car.
Audi Sport Team WRT continued its strong start to the event by finishing fifth after Robin Frijns posted a 2:04.14s lap.
The car topped the opening session for Bronze and Silver rated drivers earlier this morning.
New Zealand team International Motorsport (Audi R8) was sixth ahead of the Buik Motorworks Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 REX.
The top 10 was rounded out by the Objective Racing McLaren, the SunEnergy1 Mercedes shared by Jamie Whincup, Tristan Vautier, Kenny Habul and Raffaello Marciello, and the #74 Jamec Pem Audi, piloted by Chris Mies.
After only receiving their two cars at 0330 this morning, Bentley Team M-Sport successfully made it out for the session.
The #17 Continental GT3 was 11th while the sister car was in 27th spot.
Meanwhile, lap record holder Shane van Gisbergen was 16th in his first outing in the #58 YNA Autosport McLaren.
The #23 Team Carrera Cup Asia Porsche led Class B, the BMW Team SRM M4 topped Class C, and the #91 MARC II entry was the best of the Invitational class.
The field will return for the third of four practice session at 1045 local time/AEDT.
Results: Practice 2
| Pos | Num | Team | Drivers | Car | Time | Split |
| 1 | 43 | BMW M Power | A.Farfus C.Mostert M.Wittmann |
BMW M6 GT3 | 2:03.6953 | |
| 2 | 22 | Valvoline / Jamecpem | G.Tander K.van der Linde F.Vervisch |
Audi R8 LMS | 2:03.8369 | 0:00.1416 |
| 3 | 100 | Laser Plumbing and Electrical | S.Richards T.Glock P.Eng |
BMW M6 GT3 | 2:03.9871 | 0:00.2918 |
| 4 | 82 | “Bolt Masters, Castrol” | A.Bagnall M.Halliday J.Reid |
Audi R8 LMS | 2:03.9926 | 0:00.2973 |
| 5 | 47 | YNA Autosport | S.McLaughlin F.Ross A.Watson A.West |
McLaren 650S GT3 | 2:04.1376 | 0:00.4423 |
| 6 | 37 | Audi Sport Team WRT | R.Frijns S.Leonard D.Vanthoor |
Audi R8 LMS | 2:04.1498 | 0:00.4545 |
| 7 | 777 | The Bend Motorsport Park | Y.Shahin L.Youlden T.Enge |
Lamborghini Gallardo | 2:04.8571 | 0:01.1618 |
| 8 | 11 | Objective Racing | T.Walls W.Luff T.Slade J.Evans |
McLaren 650S | 2:05.1503 | 0:01.4550 |
| 9 | 75 | Mercedes-AMG Team SunEnergy1 | K.Habul T.Vautier J.Whincup R.Marciello |
Mercedes AMG GT3 | 2:05.1554 | 0:01.4601 |
| 10 | 74 | Valvoline Jamecpem | C.Mies C.Haase M.Winklehock |
Audi R8 LMS | 2:05.1811 | 0:01.4858 |
| 11 | 17 | Bentley Team M-Sport | S.Kane G.Smith J.Gounon |
Bentley Continental | 2:05.6407 | 0:01.9454 |
| 12 | 19 | Daimler Trucks Brisbane | D.Reynolds J.Martin L.Talbot M.Griffith |
Mercedes GT | 2:05.6408 | 0:01.9455 |
| 13 | 8 | WM Waste | M.Twigg C.Baird T.D’Alberto |
Mercedes AMG GT3 | 2:06.2013 | 0:02.5060 |
| 14 | 39 | Audi Sport Team WRT | P.Lamy P.Dalla Lana M.Lauda W.Davison |
Audi R8 LMS | 2:06.4430 | 0:02.7477 |
| 15 | 991 | EuroMechanica | L.Vanthoor K.Estre E.Bamber |
Porsche 911 GT3 R | 2:06.7201 | 0:03.0248 |
| 16 | 58 | YNA Autosport | S.van Gisbergen C.Lowndes C.Ledogar |
McLaren 650S GT3 | 2:06.9363 | 0:03.2410 |
| 17 | 540 | Boston Athletic Club | T.Pappas J.Bleekemolen L.Stolz M.Lieb |
Porsche 911 GT3 R | 2:07.3129 | 0:03.6176 |
| 18 | 12 | Ice Break & Virgin Australia | D.Calvert-Jones P.Long M.Campbell A.Davison |
Porsche 991 GT3R | 2:07.4665 | 0:03.7712 |
| 19 | 6 | Safe-T-Stop | R.Gartner H.Morrall D.Wall J.Bowe |
Lamborghini Gallardo | 2:07.5274 | 0:03.8321 |
| 20 | 9 | Hallmarc | M.Cini L.Holdsworth D.Fiore |
Audi R8 LMS | 2:07.5671 | 0:03.8718 |
| 21 | 29 | Haemokinisis/Trofeo Estate | J.Manolios R.Millier I.Capelli D.Canto |
Lamborghini Huracan | 2:08.4692 | 0:04.7739 |
| 22 | 911 | Manthey-Racing | R.Dumas F.Makowiecki D.Werner |
Porsche 911 | 2:08.6994 | 0:05.0041 |
| 23 | 56 | Mercedes-AMG Team Strakka | M.Buhk M.Gotz A.Parente |
Mercedes AMG GT GT3 | 2:08.8157 | 0:05.1204 |
| 24 | 55 | Strakka Racing | N.Leventis L.Williamson C.Waters D.Fumaneli |
Mercedes AMG GT GT3 | 2:09.0509 | 0:05.3556 |
| 25 | 91 | MARC Cars Australia | K.Kassulke R.Salmon W.Brown |
MARC II V8 | 2:09.1743 | 0:05.4790 |
| 26 | 3 | Audi Sport Customer Racing | A.Samadi D.O’Keeffe D.Gaunt |
Audi R8 LMS | 2:10.0741 | 0:06.3788 |
| 27 | 18 | Bentley Team M-Sport | A.Soucek M.Soulet V.Abril |
Bentley Continental | 2:10.1476 | 0:06.4523 |
| 28 | 66 | Daytona Sportscars | B.Schoots A.Macrow M.Caine |
Dodge Viper | 2:10.4990 | 0:06.8037 |
| 29 | 69 | Supabarn | J.Koundouris T.Koundouris A.Walsh D.Padayachee |
Audi R8 LMS | 2:10.9732 | 0:07.2779 |
| 30 | 23 | Team Carrera Cup Asia | P.Tresidder C.van der Drift A.Tang C.Yi-Fan |
Porsche 991 | 2:11.2051 | 0:07.5098 |
| 31 | 67 | Gotzinger Smallgoods | M.Haber J.Camilleri A.Cameron |
MARC II V8 | 2:11.4304 | 0:07.7351 |
| 32 | 65 | Daytona Sportscars | J.Augustine D.Thomas R.Howell |
Daytona Coupe | 2:11.4649 | 0:07.7696 |
| 33 | 4 | Grove Group | S.Grove B.Grove B.Barker |
Porsche GT3 Cup | 2:14.0195 | 0:10.3242 |
| 34 | 94 | MARC Cars Australia | R.Thomson Z.Goddard D.Ridge |
MARC Mazda V8 | 2:14.4683 | 0:10.7730 |
| 35 | 21 | The Porsche Broker | D.Stutterd S.Fillmore A.Fawcet |
Porsche 911 | 2:15.2484 | 0:11.5531 |
| 36 | 96 | GAP Solutions / SEKTOR | J.Goodacre P.Major J.Love |
MARC Focus V8 | 2:15.5030 | 0:11.8077 |
| 37 | 44 | BP Ultimate | D.Grant X.West C.Hill |
BMW M4 GT4 | 2:18.4622 | 0:14.7669 |
| 38 | 49 | Interlloy | G.Wood T.Harrison C.Hill |
KTM X-Bow GT4 | 2:18.6246 | 0:14.9293 |
| 39 | 95 | Eastgate Engineering | G.Taunton J.Busk B.Fullwood |
MARC Focus V8 | 2:18.7448 | 0:15.0495 |
| 40 | 30 | Boat Works | A.Seton M.Brabham T.Longhurst |
BMW M4 | 2:19.2651 | 0:15.5698 |
| 41 | 93 | MARC Cars Australia | G.Denyer T.Everingham G.Jacobson |
MARC Mazda V8 | 2:19.4410 | 0:15.7457 |
| 42 | 46 | Prosport Performance GABH | J.Viebahn M.Schelp M.Braams N.Verdonck |
Porsche Cayman PRO4 | 2:19.4966 | 0:15.8013 |
| 43 | 40 | On Track Motorsport | G.Mennell K.Booker A.Zerefos M.Caine |
Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | 2:20.3299 | 0:16.6346 |
| 44 | 15 | Trymax Mowing Systems | K.Baigent N.Allport M.Wilding-Spratt A.Blewett |
BMW M4 GT4 | 2:21.1746 | 0:17.4793 |
| 45 | 88 | Ginetta Australia | W.Tregurtha J.Robson B.Walsh |
Ginetta G55 | 2:22.0129 | 0:18.3176 |
| 46 | 54 | MARC Cars Australia | P.Morris K.Alford C.Parrish |
MARC II V8 | 2:22.2757 | 0:18.5804 |
| 47 | 48 | Interlloy | J.McMillan D.Crampton T.Macrow C.Wood |
KTM X-Bow GT4 | 2:22.3723 | 0:18.6770 |
| 48 | 77 | Ginetta Australia | M.Simpson C.Cowham L.Kearns |
Ginetta G55 | 2:25.6282 | 0:21.9329 |
| 49 | 85 | Paul Reed Smith Guitars | C.Putman C.Espenlaub J.Foster |
Porsche 911GT3-Cup | 2:26.0639 | 0:22.3686 |
| 50 | 13 | JET Battery Services | D.Jorgensen C.Lawrence B.Strom K.Wittmer |
BMW M4 GT4 | 2:31.3969 | 0:27.7016 |
View Speedcafe.com’s comprehensive Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour Form Guide, presented by our platinum partner Mercedes-Benz.
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