Rain and fog engulfed Mt Panorama this morning and delayed the opening practice session for the Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour.
In the late, tricky, and abbreviated outing, Jayden Ojeda was the fastest in Simon Hodges’ Class X BMW M4 with a time of 2:53:3986s.
Ojeda had a 2.3s margin on the Class A1 Mercedes-Benz AMG A45 of Brett Hobson/Michael Sheargold/Dylan O’Keeffe and the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X in the hands of Tyler Mecklem and Hadrian Morrall.
Beric Lynton (BMW M3) was the pioneer early when the track was much wetter and was fourth overall ahead of Ben Kavich (BMW M2 Competition).
Then came Cameron Crick and Dean Campbell (EVO X) and Jake Camilleri with a stunning effort in his Class C Mazda 3 MPS who will have Scott Nicolas co-driving.
Local Harri Inwood, along with Grant Inwood and Tim Colombrita finished eighth for the session in their Class B1 Subaru Impreza WRX STi.
The best of the A2s were Tony Levitt and Mark Griffith (Mercedes-Benz AMG C63) in ninth and just in front of Coleby Cowham/Lindsay Kearns (A2 Ford Mustang).
Best of B2s were Justin Elliot/Blair Cole/Michael Ferns (Holden Commodore SSV), and Lachlan Bloxsom, Murray Dowsett and Mitch Maddren (Toyota 86) headed Class D.
The two Class E Mazda 3 SP25s were 44th and 45th with Cameron Beller/Andrew Jackman/Mark Taubitz ahead of Phil Alexander/Stephen Doorey/Shane Fowler.
The session was barely eleven minutes in when it was red flagged due to the Class C VW Scirocco of James Hay, Paul Ansell and Michael Learoyd having wall contact in the esses with Hay at the wheel.
A second red flag came at the 35 minute mark, this time for Darren Jenkins driven Holden Astra HSV VRX he is sharing with Chris Holdt and David Ling. At this stage the session was called.
The preceding wet practice session for the Fanatic GT World Challenge Australia Sprint series first round was red flagged.
Garnett Patterson had wall contact at McPhillamy Park in Yasser Shahin’s new Porsche 911 GTR.
Fog descended on the top of the mountain and the session was not restarted.
The Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour Practice 2 is at 16:10 local time.