Tander Audi ends Friday at the 12 Hour on top

The Jamec-Pem Audi that Supercars ace Garth Tander will race in the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour has finished Friday practice on top.

Friday’s fourth and final practice session at Mount Panorama was red-flagged, and ultimately not restarted, with roughly 10 minutes to go.

That was the result of a collision between the Pro-Am Scott Taylor Motorsport Mercedes and the all-New Zealand BMW M4 GT4 entry.

It left the Tander, Kelvin Van der Linde and Fredrick Vervisch Audi R8 LMS with the day’s fastest time.

Having finished second to the Schnitzer Motorsport BMW in the two preceding sessions, Vervisch turned a 2:03.1368s to secure top spot.

The Audi finished 0.2518 seconds clear of the Chaz Mostert, Macro Wittmann and Augusto Farfus BMW M6 GT3.

Farfus set the BMW’s top times in Practice 2 and 3, a session Mostert sat out before starting the day’s fourth and final hitout.

He traded top spot early with the Steven Richards Motorsport-run BMW, with Wittmann ultimately setting the car’s best time.

Audis filled the next two places, with Richards’ BMW fifth, ahead of the Lamborghini featuring PIRTEK Enduro Cup regulars Steve Owen and David Russell that suffered engine problems earlier on Friday.

Lee Holdsworth’s Audi was seventh, with the Strakka Racing Mercedes of Cameron Waters the next Supercars driver in the order in 11th.

The two YNA Autosport McLarens were 12th and 15th, Scott McLaughlin ahead of the Shane van Gisbergen and Craig Lowndes entry.

Bathurst 1000 winner David Reynolds’ Mercedes finished the day 13th, with Will Davison’s Audi 17th, Tim Slade’s McLaren 19th and Jamie Whincup’s Mercedes 21st.

The final practice session starts at 8:55am on Saturday morning, before the day’s qualifying sessions.