Campbell puts Porsche on top in Bathurst 12 Hour Practice 5

Matt Campbell has given the Manthey EMA Porsche squad top spot in Practice 5 at the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour.

The 2019 race winner was one of three drivers to break into the ‘twos’ during the hour-long Saturday morning session at Mount Panorama, the others being SunEnergy1’s Jules Gounon and Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Richie Stanaway, both behind the wheel of Mercedes-AMGs.

Campbell set a late 2:02.7513s to top the session by 0.0769s, with Stanaway 0.1061s off the pace in his Bathurst 12 Hour debut.

The session got underway at 08:35 local time but a red flag was deployed before anyone had a chance to set a lap due to the #101 Volante Rosso Motorsport Mercedes-AMG stopping on-track.

Once pit lane opened again, Broc Feeney set the fastest initial flyer of a 2:07.7042s in the Supercheap Auto-backed #888 Triple Eight Mercedes-AMG.

He clocked a 2:04.4861s next time through and then pitted to make way for Shane van Gisbergen, during which time Christopher Haase took over top spot with a 2:04.1543s in the #74 Melbourne Performance Centre Audi.

One Audi replaced another in first position when Frederic Vervisch wheeled the #55 Schumacher Motorsport entry to a 2:03.9568s, the fastest lap of the weekend to that point, before a rush of new fastest laps.

No sooner had Jamie Whincup set a 2:03.9232s in the #99 Triple Eight Mercedes-AMG, Gounon set a 2:03.7754s in the #75 Mercedes-AMG and then Thomas Preining a 2:03.4562s in the #912 Manthey EMA Porsche.

Gounon raised the bar even further when he nailed a 2:02.8282s at the end of the third run for Car #75, but it took almost a quarter of an hour before he was joined in the ‘twos’ when Stanaway drove the #99 Mercedes-AMG to a 2:02.8574s in the 46th minute.

Campbell bettered both with a 2:02.7513s in the #912 Porsche with four minutes remaining and, with Luca Stolz subsequently driving the SunEnergy1 entry into the garage, Manthey EMA would remain on top.

GruppeM Racing took fourth thanks to Raffaele Marciello’s 2:03.1698s in the #999 Mercedes-AMG with the chequered flag out, with the #74 Audi ending up fifth on a 2:03.3574s.

Rounding out the top 10 were the #47 Supabarn Audi, the #888 Mercedes-AMG, the #32 Team WRT BMW, the #46 Team WRT BMW, and the #65 MPC Audi, with the #55 Audi finishing 11th-fastest.

The sixth and final practice session takes place later this morning at 10:50 local time/AEDT.

Results: Practice 5 All drivers