HOUR ONE UPDATE – AUDI SPRINTS AWAY IN 12 HOUR
AUDI have taken the initiative in the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour as the race began in perfect conditions this morning on Mount Panorama.
With brake discs glowing and flames belching from the exhausts, The pair of Audi R8 LMS GT3 cars sprinted away from the field from their front row positions as dawn broke over Bathurst.
James Koundouris settled into third as a battle broke out for fourth to seventh.
Production leader Neil McFadyen, 11th outright in the Mitsubishi Evo IX GSR.
* #25 in the garage for the start, apparent drive shift issue
*The Porsche of Craig Baird made two pit stops, first coming on lap one, the next during the safety car
*Dean Grant crashed his Mosler on lap 12 at the end of Conrod Straight bringing out the safety car for the first time, lodging his windscreen in a power pole on Conrod Straight
*Both Audi’s made their first pit stop under safety car
*Five laps under safety car before restart
HOUR TWO UPDATE – BAIRD OVERTAKES AUDI
AUDI continued to pound out consistent lap times with Craig Baird staying in touch. Clear air allowed him to get the most out of his VIP PetFoods Porsche GT3 R not letting them pull away for the lead they enjoyed in the first hour before the safety car made its first appearance.
As the sun rose over Mount Panorama the field settled into a rhythm. The Ferrari pair of Bowe and Simonson rode in formation in 5th and 6th as specks of rain began to fall. Cars were in and out of the pits for fuel, driver changes and tyres.
Leading the Production race was Mark Brame in 12th.
*#69 with Theo Koundouris had his left rear tyre blow from an apparent puncture
* #27 Ferrari suffered an electrical problem
*Lowndes took the race lead back from Basseng before Baird stole it from him on lap 39
* Audi made the second of their 12 mandatory 90 second pit stops for the race, #8 car in first for driver change and fuel, Lowndes in on lap 41 for Luff to get into the car
*Baird in for another pit stop, stayed in car
*Loose door on #27 Ferrari, fixed in the pits
*#80 suffered front right puncture on Conrod
HOUR THREE UPDATE – RAIN FALLS AS MIES LEADS
A heavy shower hit Mount Panorama coming into the third hour of the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour. Those with a wealth of experience of the track found themselves holding an advantage in the wet as teams toyed with the idea of putting wet tyres onto their cars.
Luff lead the field as the shower passed and the track began to dry. Sunshine returned to the circuit before the #5 Tinkler Motorsports Ford crash brought the safety car out for its second appearance of the race. A flurry of pit stops under yellow saw the order on track change.
Car #14 continued to lead the Production cars, sitting in 10th outright.
*#69 came into their garage after a broken fan belt put a halt to their race
* Four cars on the lead lap
*Quinn into #29
*#44 out with after suffering a gearbox problem which would take approximately 8 hours to fix, their day is over
* #3 had a fuel issue which was fixed, back out on track
* #5 into the wall after hitting oil and locking his brakes, safety car out for the second time
*All four lead lap cars pitted during safety car, Mies comes out on top, Quinn in 2nd, Luff 3rd
*#23 in sand trap under safety car
*Luff back into 2nd after restart passing Quinn cleanly
HOUR FOUR UPDATE – GODZILLA LIVES!
Mother Nature couldn’t make her mind up as the field continued their endurance race around the 6.2km circuit. Rain fell gently on and off as Mies found his groove, leading in the #8 Audi from teammate Luff in #7.
Overcast skies cast a sullen atmosphere for the fourth hour which ran undisturbed until the rain began to fall heavily again. Luff’s experience in the wet around Bathurst saw him take the lead back from Mies before pit stops shuffled the field.
Previously thought to have a gearbox issue that wouldn’t be fixed in time to rejoin the race, the #44 Donut King ‘Godzilla’ returned to the field, finding a second wind and proving that sometimes things might not be as bad as they seem. At ‘The Mountain’ anything is possible.
One third of the way into the race sees #8 Kingsley leading Class B in 8th, #80 leading Class C in 18th and #50 remains at the front of the Class E cars in 15th .
Car #14 continued to lead the Production cars, sitting in 10th outright.
*#39 spun into the sand trap at the final corner, Smollen was able to free himself and prevented another safety car.
*Rain fell heavily as Luff passes Mies in the wet conditions
* Owen gambling on wet tyres
*#27 pitted for a third stop and driver change
* 4WD assisted #43 getting out of the sand after a small off
*#67 spun without incident
*#44 back on track, problem may have been smaller than previously thought
* Audi #7 pitted for Eddy to get into the car, #8 appears to have a small electrical issue as they also came in for a stop.
*#17 taken into garage – possible low battery/power steering problem
HOUR FIVE UPDATE – AUDI TAKES CONTROL
Audi continued the theme of the weekend, dominating in position one and two. As the track continued to dry up, the R8 LMS GT3 pair was seemingly untouchable.
The #29 VIP PetFoods Porsche led for some of the race before completing yet another pit stop for a driver change and refuel. Initially rejoining in 3rd, Mawer soon passed Quinn, showing no mercy for his fellow Porsche driver, dropping the latter to 4th.
The ‘Godzilla’ Nissan GTR suffered another blow, ending up back in the garage after contact with Reynolds in the Porsche GT3 Cup S through the dipper.
Car #14 looks to be the strongest of the Production Cars, dominating all morning and currently sitting in 11th.
*Mawer pitted, Crick in *Reynolds consistently fast in #12, looking promising in 5th after earlier dramas
*Contact through dipper between #44 and #12 after the latter attempted a pass
*#12 has steering issue, in garage, #44 rear damage after incident
*#69 pitted, Owen out, James Koundouris in.
*Quinn lapped by Luff, Audis only cars remaining on lead lap
*Mies pits the #8 R8 for the sixth time, #7 follows suit as Quinn gets back on lead lap
*Eddy now in #7 after Luff’s double stint
HOUR SIX UPDATE – HALFWAY THERE
It was an all German manufacturer top five early in the hour as the Audi pair lead from three Porsche entrants. As the Armor All Bathurst 12 hour hit the halfway mark, a spanner or two was thrown in the works.
The safety car made a further two appearances, coming out after the #25 Michelin Corvette came to a complete stop on top of the mountain. Pit stops ensued and as the #29 Porsche was pushed in and out of its garage, delaying their stop and pushing them down the order. At almost the six hour mark it was out again so the stranded #27 BMWi could be retrieved from the sand trap after contact with the wall, sending pit lane into a flurry of excitement once more.
Six hours down sees #23 leading Class B in 5th, #80 leading Class C in 16th and #26 remains at the front of the Class E cars in 15th.
Car #14 looks to be the strongest of the Production Cars, dominating all morning and currently sitting in 11th.
*#17 back in the race
*#50 in the garage with what looks like a drive brake.fueling system problem
*#39 had their gearbox changed
*#25 Corvette stopped on the top of the mountain near the infamous Dick Johnson/rock incident
*Safety car out again
*Audis only two on lead lap again as of lap 127 as others fight to be first of those one lap down
*Michelin supplied over 1000 tyres for the weekend
*Only five cars with real chance of winning bar anything unforseen happening
*#14 black flag for over lapping during first restart
*#7 Audi off after restart, dropping down the order, giving the #29 Porsche an advantage
HOUR SEVEN UPDATE – ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE
Audi continues to lead the Armor All Bathurst 12 hour as the home stretch comes into view. Porsche looks prepared to upset Audis ultimate goal of a one/two finish early on as the #29 GT3 R sits in second after Eddy’s error in the #7 Audi after the restart allowed him through.
O’Young and Quinn completed their seventh pit stop, putting Eddy back into the lead momentarily as he stayed out on track. The action continued around the top three with numerous collisions, some near misses and technical issues keeping things interesting.
The battle of the Production Cars is on, #14 still leads the class in 11th outright, not far behind is #43 in 13th and #28 in 14th.
*Bowe hustling through, setting times that are matching the Audis
*Ferrari’s of Bowe and Searle are ten laps down from Baird and the Audis
*Traffic hindered Eddy’s charge back through the field
*#38 still in with a chance in 4th, lap down, only 50s behind
*#8 pitted from the lead on lap 151
*#3 with continuing issues, back in garage having completed 58 laps
*Hit 1000km mark during the hour (lap 164), could hit 2000km for the race if safety cars are limited
*#12 in garage after a recurring issue with the brakes hindered their progress
*#5 going well with no real issues so far after a small off this morning, currently 18th
*#62 Lotus locked the left rear, fired into the wall, narrowly missed the #66 Porsche and ended up pointing the wrong way on mountain straight before left the track, preventing a safety car.
*#37 hit #27, Paul Stubber very unimpressed with the incident
*Lap 164 #7 pitted, meaning the top three have now completed seven stops, Lowndes back in
HOUR EIGHT UPDATE – MELLOW YELLOW
Mount Panorama rookies in the #8 Audi R8 LMS Gt3 continued to lead the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour at the beginning of the eighth hour. A brake pad change put the car back in the pack momentarily gifting the lead to the #29 Porsche, moving the #7 Audi into second.
Lowndes did all he could to reduce the lead deficit, having to back off to get the temperature of his #7 Audi down before continuing his charge once more and going from 13s to only 4s down. Conditions remained overcast and windy with the sun barely peaking out around the track.
The hour ended under the safety car.
Two thirds down sees #23 leading Class B in 5th, #80 leading Class C in 16th and #26 remains at the front of the Class E cars in 15th.
#14 still leading the Production Cars, sitting in 11th.
*#26 suffered a puncture while #44 continued to have transmission issues, putting them out of the race again
*#2 Mosler the only Class A car out of the race so far
*Brake pad change during #8 pit stop, first one of the day, 2min40 stop, Basseng in
*#17 looks to have lost a cylinder, currently being investigated
*#3 back on track after an extended pit stop
*#39 and #12 received a black flag for pit lane speeding and pit stop violation respectively
*#43 has blown a turbo, coming to a stop on track at Reid Park, safety car out
*#8 would have gone a lap down if it weren’t for the safety car
*#29 pitted for the under yellow, #7 followed and had their brake pads changed
HOUR NINE UPDATE – LONG ROAD HOME
Racing went back under green as we moved towards the final quarter of the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour. Lowndes regained the lead from Quinn before his teammate moved through into second. Things seemed to be going Audis way as they resumed their preferred one/two position on track before Lowndes made what is widely regarded as an unexpected pit stop.
Basseng in #8 Audi went on to pull out a strong lead on Quinn before Lowndes caught him and went back into second place.
Sitting in 10th car #14 is still leading the Production Cars.
*#7 pitted unexpectedly from first position after picking up a puncture, not counted as one of their 12 compulsory pit stop as was not 10 laps since previous stop
*Simonson in the #37 car made its tenth pit stop, the only other car to have done that is #3
*#50 had an impact to the front right, able to get back out there
*Basseng lead out to 1min10s, Lowndes passing, Audi
*#12 suffers a tyre failure and ends up in the wall at Reid Park
*Safety car out so #12 can be cleared, bunching up the field
*#7 and #29 in for pit stops
*Luff in #7
HOUR TEN UPDATE – ROUND AND ROUND WE GO
Fifteen minutes in and we were back under racing conditions and things soon settled into a comfortable rhythm as the field moved into the final hours of the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour.
Audi kept a tight hold on the top two positions, Mies leading in #8, Luff second in #7 with Klark Quinn still in the hunt.
#23 holds onto 5th outright and the lead of the Class B cars, #80 in 13th remains on top of Class C as #68 sticks in 15th leading Class E.
#14 remains dominant in the Production Cars, moving up to 9th outright.
*On track for a distance and lap record
*No rain on the radar for the remainder of the race
*Anything is possible, Bathurst is Bathurst
THE ELEVENTH HOUR…
The eleventh hour of the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour ran reasonably smoothly. #29 pitted but retained their position on track as the Audi pair stayed in prime position.
Just before the start of the final hour Audi pitted both cars simultaneously. Initially the #8 car was out first but too much wheel spin meant Lowndes was able to get out on track first, taking the lead.
*#69 complaining of an ‘unknown noise’ – team told Theo Koundouris not to pit to find out the source, just to keep driving so their 6th position wasn’t lost unnecessarily while looking for issue
*Over 1600kms run in the race so far
* Storm warning now current for 6pm
THE TWELFTH HOUR – AUDI TAMES THE MOUNTAIN
Lowndes headed into the lead of the final hour of the Armor All 12 Hour. He pulled out 28s in front of his teammate before having to complete another compulsory pit stop, handing the lead back to O’Young. The #8 Audi held on for the win, with an almost perfect formation finish as #7 finished in 2nd. #29 finished third.
Class B won by #23 in 5th, Class C won by #80 in 12th, Production won by #14 in 10th and Class E won by #26 in 13th.
*Lowndes pitted with 40 minutes to go
*#69 comes to a stop at the bottom of Mountain Straight with just over 30 minutes to go
*Report of a lightning storm coming
*#29 pitted at 11.5hr mark, one compulsory stop to go
*#8 came in for a ‘splash and dash’ pit stop with min to go
* 292 laps completed – most laps ever completed, distance record – 1814km