Allan Simonsen has completed practice for the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour by setting the fastest time of the day in Practice 3.
The Dane set a best time of 2:08.28s in the closing minutes, putting the Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 458 0.89s faster than David Russell in the JBS Lamborghini Gallardo.
Cameron McConville (Lamborghini Gallardo), Christopher Mies (Audi R8 LMS), Craig Lowndes (Audi R8 LMS) and Mok Wen Sun (Ferrari 458) rounded out the top six for the session.
Parity regulations that see any car that laps under 2:08.0s in practice or qualifying levied with a 50kg weight penalty ensured that all of the top runners saved their ultimate speed for Sunday’s race.
Simonsen told Speedcafe.com at the circuit that he had been “cruising” throughout the day due to the lap time regulation, and later explained the Melbourne-based squad’s Friday program.
“The team are dialling everything in and getting everyone some laps and so far the team and the drivers are all pretty pleased,” said Simonsen.
“We’re just making sure it runs nice and smoothly. The car is brand new and has been fully spanner-checked by the boys here in Australia, so it’s looking good.”
The Erebus Racing-entered Mercedes of Tim Slade/Peter Hackett/Jeroen Bleekemolen/Brett Curtis failed to turn a lap as the team continues to repair the damage sustained in Practice 2.
CLICK HERE for Speedcafe.com’s Practice 2 report
The Black Falcon-entered sister car ended Practice 3 with a 2:32.22s best to be 13th fastest, with its international drivers continuing to acclimatise themselves to the circuit.
Qualifying kicks off tomorrow at 815 local time.
See below for the combined top 10 result from all three practice sessions today
Pos | Drivers | Car | Time |
1 | A.Simonsen/D.Farnbacher/J.Bowe/P.Edwards | Ferrari 458 GT3 | 2:08.2824s |
2 | C.Lowndes/W.Luff/M.Eddy | Audi R8 GT3 | 2:08.6474s |
3 | R.Lago/D.Russell/W.Park | Lamborghini Gallardo | 2:09.1738s |
4 | T.Huglin/C.McConville/P.Kox/L.Searle | Lamborghini Gallardo | 2:09.8607s |
5 | M.Weng Sun/C.Baird/M.Griffin | Ferrari 458 GT3 | 2:10.4365s |
6 | C.Mies/D.O’Young/C.Jons | Audi R8 GT3 | 2:10.6742s |
7 | T.Slade/J.Bleekemolen/P.Hackett/B.Curtis | Mercedes Benz SLS AMG | 2:12.2469s |
8 | M.Patterson/A.Li/F.Yu | Audi R8 GT3 | 2:16.4933s |
9 | N.Tinkler/S.Johnson/S.Richards | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | 2:17.9934s |
10 | R.Wilson/SP.Breslin/V.Mehta/SP.Breslin | Mercedes Benz SLS AMG | 2:19.2253s |