The Spirit of Race Ferrari piloted by Mathias Lauda topped the opening session at the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour.
Lauda, son of Formula 1 legend Niki Lauda, clocked a 2:06.86 late in the hit out to put the Ferrari 488 GT3, he shares with Paul Dalla Lana and ex-F1 driver Pedro Lamy to the top of the times.
The session, held in bright and breezy conditions, saw 28 of the 40 cars log times with the outing excluding Platinum and Gold FIA rated drivers, ensuring the majority of the pro runners remained in the garage.
Australian Josh Burdon, who had topped the times until late on, was only 0.07s shy of the Ferrari in the #35 KCMG Nissan Nismo GTR GT3.
Third belonged to the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG-GT3 piloted by ex-pat Aussie Kenny Habul, who emerged fastest in the early stages.
Yasser Shahin was fourth in the Erebus Motorsport Mercedes-AMG ahead of the Class I #91 entry thanks to Erebus Motorsport Supercars driver Anton De Pasquale.
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The Class B Ash Seward Motorsport Porsche occupied sixth in front the Competition Motorsport Porsche driven by David Calvert-Jones.
The top 10 was completed by the Objective Racing McLaren (Tony Walls), Aussie Driver Search Audi (Roger Lago) and the KCMG Nissan (Edoardo Liberati).
Practice 2 was due to begin at 0920 local time although an incident with the #3 Audi of Pete Storey delayed proceedings by 15 minutes.
Results Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour Practice 1
| 1 | 51 Spirit of Race | Mathias Lauda (AUT) | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 2:06.8627* | |
| 2 | 35 KC Motorgroup LTD | Joshua Burdon (AUS) | Nissan GTR Nismo GT3 | 2:06.9347 | 00.0720 |
| 3 | 75 Sunenergy1 Racing | Kenny Habul (USA) | Mercedes AMG GT GT3 | 2:07.2406 | 00.3779 |
| 4 | 777 The Bend Motorsport Park | Yasser Shahin (AUS) | Mercedes AMG GT GT3 | 2:08.0403 | 01.1776 |
| 5 | 91 MARC Cars Australia | P.Tracy/A.de Pasquale | MARC Car Marc II V8 | 2:08.1040 | 01.2413 |
| 6 | 43 The Furniture Broker | Richard Muscat (AUS) | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 2:08.5664 | 01.7037 |
| 7 | 12 Ice Break – Virgin Australia | David Calvert-Jones USA | Porsche GT3-R | 2:08.7770 | 01.9143 |
| 8 | 11 Objective Racing | Tony Walls (AUS) | McLaren 650s | 2:08.8231 | 01.9604 |
| 9 | 98 Aussie Driver Search | Roger Lago (AUS) | Audi R8 LMS | 2:09.2292 | 02.3665 |
| 10 | 18 KC Motorgroup LTD | Edoardo Liberati (ITA) | Nissan GTR Nismo GT3 | 2:09.7190 | 02.8563 |
| 11 | 6 Wall Racing | Julian Westwood (GBR) | Lamborghini Huracan | 2:10.4306 | 03.5679 |
| 12 | 540 Black Swan Racing | Tim Pappas (USA) | Porsche 911 GT3-R | 2:12.1187 | 05.2560 |
| 13 | 4 Grove Group | Stephen Grove (AUS) | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 2:12.5354 | 05.6727 |
| 14 | 3 Melbourne Performance Centre | Pete Storey (GBR) | Audi R8 LMS | 2:12.6434 | 05.7807 |
| 15 | 9 Melbourne Performance Centre | Marc Cini (AUS) | Audi R8 LMS | 2:13.2436 | 06.3809 |
| 16 | 96 GAP Solutions / SEKTOR | Hadrian Morral (AUS) | MARC Car Marc I | 2:13.5558 | 06.6931 |
| 17 | 19 “Team Nineteen, Black Falcon” | Mark Griffith (AUS) | Mercedes AMG GT GT3 | 2:13.5686 | 06.7059 |
| 18 | 760 “Aston Martin St. Gallen, B&O | F.Kamelger/A.Baenziger/P.Leemhuis | Aston Martin Vantage | 2:13.9426 | 07.0799 |
| 19 | 20 Localsearch | Adam Hargraves (AUS) | MARC Car Marc II V8 | 2:15.2947 | 08.4320 |
| 20 | 29 Haemokinisis/ Trofeo Estate/ P | Jim Manolios (AUS) | Lamborghini Huracan | 2:15.4867 | 08.6240 |
| 21 | 34 Walkenhorst Motorsport | Mikkel Jensen (DEN) | BMW M6 GT3 | 2:18.1960 | 11.3333 |
| 22 | 55 Ginetta Australia | Karl Reindler (AUS) | Ginetta G55 GT4 | 2:18.3570 | 11.4943 |
| 23 | 13 JET Environmental | Brett Strom (USA) | BMW M4 GT4 | 2:19.6261 | 12.7634 |
| 24 | 48 M Motorsport | Justin McMillan (AUS) | KTM X-Bow GT4 | 2:19.8130 | 12.9503 |
| 25 | 71 Exedra Motorsport | Dean Koutsoumidis (AUS) | KTM X-Bow GT4 | 2:21.0492 | 14.1865 |
| 26 | 23 Team Carrera Cup Asia | Jinlong Bao (CHN) | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 2:21.5320 | 14.6693 |
| 27 | 92 AJC Portables/ Nana’s Naturals | Jason Busk (AUS) | MARC Car Marc I | 2:24.2113 | 17.3486 |
| 28 | 50 Vantage Freight | David Crampton (AUS) | KTM X-Bow GT4 | 2:31.1903 | 24.327 |
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