Habul paces third Bathurst practice

Kenny Habul has put his local nous to the test with the quickest time in Practice 3 at Mount Panorama.

Habul, the 2022 LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 Hour winner, was nearly a second clear of his closest rival.

The 49-year-old piloted his #75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG to a 2:05.3096s.

It was the only 2:05s lap of the 40-minute session held for Bronze-only drivers.

Liam Talbot was the only driver within a second of Habul’s session-topping time.

Talbot (#65 Audi) clocked a 2:06.2644s to be second, albeit 0.9548s off the pace.

Brad Schumacher (#74 Audi) was third in the session, backing up his efforts from the earlier session.

Schumacher — another Bathurst local — was second behind Valentino Rossi (#46 BMW) in the earlier Practice 2.

Rossi was quickest in Practice 2, but sat out of Practice 3 as Team WRT completed scheduled works on the car.

Prince Jefri Ibrahim (#99 Mercedes-AMG) was fourth, some 2.0535s behind Habul.

The session ran green for its entirety, a stark contrast to the earlier Practice 2.

The second session of the day was punctuated by two red flags, the second for a crash for Marc Cini.

Cini did, however, return to the track for Practice 3 with a repaired #9 Hallmarc Audi.

Cini completed six laps and wound up 15th of the 18 runners.

Ross Poulakis (#101 Mercedes-AMG), Tony Bates (#24 Audi), Yasser Shahin (#777 Mercedes-AMG), Stephen Grove (#4 Porsche), Andrew Fawcett (#10 Audi) and Marcel Zalloua (#44 Mercedes-AMG) rounded out the top 10.

The #50 KTM was a notable absentee due to an engine failure in Practice 2, with M Motorsport/Vantage Racing forced into a car change.

The team will run an Audi for the remainder of the weekend with the KTM unable to continue.

Friday’s action will conclude with Practice 4 — for all drivers — at 4:10pm local time.

Tickets for the 2023 LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 Hour are on sale now on Ticketek.com.