Sharing the Melbourne Performance Centre-rund Audi R8 LMS GT3 with Supercars points leader Will Brown, the Bathurst local was the last to attempt to put the fastest lap together.
However, his day came undone when he spun out of Turn 6 on his second lap and nose-dived the concrete wall.
That brought out the red flags and terminated the session.
“I was up seven tenths on my flying lap and I was just trying to capitalise on that of course and put that car on the front row for the race,” said Schumacher.
“Unfortunately, just on the exit of Turn 6 where the grate is with the ripple strip, it just snapped in the rear on me and caught me completely by surprise and I just didn’t have the time to save the rear and ultimately went into the inside wall. Reasonably hefty damage to the car and unfortunately it looks like our day over, which is a real shame for team MPC and Audi Sport.
“I just want to apologise to the team and obviously all of our amazing sponsors because without them we wouldn’t be here and we were looking super strong all weekend. Being up by seven tenths of a second in that lap was obviously showing our strength. Just not to be, at the end of the day.”
Schumacher conceded the damage to the Audi was too great and expected Melbourne Performance Centre wouldn’t be able to pull off a repaired in time for Saturday’s three-hour race.
It’s a devastating end to Schumacher’s hopes of winning the Endurance Cup.
“I haven’t had a really good look [the car] yet but it looks like it’s going to need new front chassis rails,” said Schumacher.
“It would be repairable if it was an overnight repair but when you’ve only got three and a half hours until the race start, I think it’d be a pretty big ask to get the guys to get the car on track.
“Even if they could, they’ve got to think about the safety of us drivers and if a rushed repair is worth sending it out for a three-hour endurance race.”
Schumacher’s crash was the second interruption to the session after Sergio Pires had a similar incident in the Tigani Motorsport-run Audi R8 LMS GT3 he is co-driving with Marcel Zalloua.
Owner-driver Garth Walden in his Garth Walder Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 will start from pole position with Michael Sheargold.
Paul Stokell and Renee Gracie will line up alongside them in their Melbourne Performance Centre Audi.
The top five is completed by Peter Hackket/Declan Fraser, Liam Talbot/Chaz Mostert, and Mark Rosse/Alex Peroni.
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