Audi blitz Friday practice at Bathurst

THE #22 Jamec Pem Racing Audi of Kelvin van der Linde, Garth Tander and Frederic Vervisch were the fastest in the opening day of track action at the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour.

Vervisch set the quickest time of the day, a 2:03.136 - the fastest lap ever on a Friday in the Bathurst 12 Hour - in the fourth practice session which was ended early after a red flag.

The stoppage, which came with 14-minutes to go, was caused after a crash at The Chase involving the #8 Scott Taylor Motorsport Mercedes and the #15 Baigent Motorsport BMW M4 GT4.

Race control opted to not restart the session and called it with just under 10-minutes to go, handing second place to the #43 BMW Team Schnitzer M6 GT3, and third place to the other #74 Jamec Pem Audi.

Class B was taken out by the #23 Team Carrera Cup Asia Porsche, while the #46 Prosport Performance Porsche Cayman was quickest in Class C.

Meanwhile, the #67 MARC Cars Australia entry topped the time sheets in the Invitational Class.

Within the first ten minutes of the session, laps times were already into the 2:03s with Chaz Mostert the first, putting his #43 Schnitzer BMW M6 on the top spot with a 2:03.734.

Christopher Mies bettered Mostert's lap though, moving the benchmark to a 2:03.648 aboard the #74 Jamec Pem Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3, while Robin Frijns in the #37 Audi Sport Team WRT car was running strongly in third.

Markus Winkelhock, who took over the #74 car from Mies, got the Audi back up to the top spot with just under 30-minutes to go in the session.

In the final 15-minutes, Vervisch went fastest in the #22 Jamec Pem Audi, while Marco Wittmann nabbed second aboard the #43 BMW after taking over from Mostert.

The red flag was thrown with 14-minutes to go in the session when the #8 Mercedes and #15 BMW went off at The Chase.

Mercedes-AMG Team Strakka Racing had a power steering fluid leak mid-way through the session, hampering its drivers from getting laps in, while the #32 Lago Racing Lamborghini returned to the circuit - finishing sixth fastest - after the team had to change an engine between practice sessions.

Practice 5 commences on Saturday at 8:55am local time before Qualifying and the Top 10 Shootout later in the day.

A livestream will be available for all of tomorrow's sessions on the Bathurst 12 Hour website, while the Shootout will be broadcasted across the nation Live on channel 7mate at 4pm.

BY: Slade Perrins.