Brown continues impressive Bathurst 12 Hour charge in practice
Will Brown continues impressive Bathurst 12 Hour charge in practice
2024 Supercars champion leads way in first session on Saturday morning
Brown also topped session on Friday in Jamec Racing/Team MPC Audi
The first session of a crucial Saturday at the Meguiar's Bathurst 12 Hour has been dominated by Jamec Racing/Team MPC Audi, with Supercars star Will Brown topping Practice 5.
The Brown/Christopher Haase/Brad Schumacher #55 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II topped the session with a 2:04.0404s, followed by the #222 and #75 Mercedes-AMGs.
It was Brown who set the ultimate pace, improving on Haase's time.
The session ran green, but it wasn't without its scares. There was gentle contact at Murray's Corner between the #86 High Class Racing Porsche and #47 Supabarn/Tigani Mercedes-AMG, while Haase also had to take evasive action at Murray's Corner from the #93 Wall Racing Lamborghini.
Maxime Martin also sent the #888 Mercedes-AMG down the Hell Corner escape road.
There were problems for the #26 Arise Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Jaxon Evans/Davide Rigon/Daniel Serra. The car was stranded in the garage for the balance of the session, coming in with a suspected sensor failure before the car rapidly leaked coolant. The #26 turned just five laps.
Cam Waters kicked off the session in the #222 STM Mercedes-AMG with a 2:15.8901s, before Bryce Fullwood lowered the number to a 2:08.8198s in the Volante Rosso Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3.
Times tumbled as the sun broke through the clouds, led by Augusto Farfus' 2:05.1866s in the #46 WRT BMW M4 GT3.
Aboard the #268 Team BRM Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, James Golding laid down a 2:04.0867s, before Thomas Randle took over from Waters to fire in a 2:03.6309s.
Brown moved to second with a 2:03.8208s, before taking over the running with a 2:03.4561s. However, having taken the reins of the #268 from Golding, Alex Peroni impressed with a 2:03.3553s.
The Audi show rolled on as Haase took over from Brown, surviving the near miss with the #93 Lamborghini to record a 2:03.0404s.
Jules Gounon (2:03.3057s) and Waters (2:03.2554s) broke the Audi 1-2, but no one could unseat the Brown Audi, which furthered its status as an underdog for victory honours on Sunday.
Track action resumes on Saturday with Practice 6 at 10:05am local time, before drivers fight for the Allan Simonsen Pole Trophy across qualifying and the Pirelli Pole Battle.
