Swiss young gun tops opening practice at Bathurst 12 Hour

Ricardo Feller has put Audi on top in the first Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour session in more than two years.

The 21-year-old Swiss star was the fastest out of the blocks as well as at the end of the half-hour Practice 1 in a promising start for the #777 entry, which he is sharing with Markus Winkelhock and Yasser Shahin.

On his Mount Panorama debut, Feller wound up atop the timesheets with a 2:04.5150s set after the chequered flag, to dispatch 2020 winner Jules Gounon (#75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes).

In a late change to the schedule, Practice 1 was switched to an all-in affair, with Practice 2 (starting 10:45 AEST) now reserved for Bronze drivers only.

Greeted with a semi-wet track following some early morning rain, Feller went to the top on the first flying runs with a relatively pedestrian 2:16.2621s.

Lap times tumbled with every passing lap as conditions improved, with Ben Barker (#4 Grove Racing Porsche GTR 3), David Wall (#6 Wall Racing Lamborghini Huracan), and Luca Stolz (#75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes) spending time at the top.

By the seventh time around The Mountain, Feller had lowered the benchmark to a 2:04.9082s, which remained intact until the dying stages.

Tony D’Alberto put the #6 Huracan up to fourth, and then second, in a strong showing before the international contingent geared up for one last crack.

Gounon, who had taken from Stolz, had threatened to improve on numerous occasions before coming good with a final effort of 2:04.9079s to go to the top by a mere 0.0003s.

However, Feller was not done yet, lobbing in a lap which would give him the ascendancy to the tune of four tenths.

D’Alberto’s 2:05.1804s remained good enough for third, ahead of Cameron Waters (#24 C Tech Laser Audi R8 EVO II) and David Russell (#47 Supabarn Audi R8 EVO II).

Shane van Gisbergen was seventh in the #888 Mercedes AMG GT3, as all 20 cars hit the track.

Results: Practice 1

Results to follow