Rick Kelly has been kind enough to share a driver’s eye view of a lap around Mount Panorama. Recorded with a GoPro camera mounted to his helmet you can see and hear what it’s like inside the Nissan GTR Nismo GT as he posts a very tidy 2:04.8s lap. Check it out after the break.
Maro Engel has claimed pole position for the 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour in this afternoon’s Class A-only Qualifying 3 session with an outstanding lap time of 2:03.8586. Engel’s time in the #1 Erebus Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 was 0.0835s faster than Mika Salo’s provisional pole time from this morning.
That means Engel now holds the fastest recorded lap for a closed roof car around Mount Panorama and along with his Erebus teammates they become the inaugural winners of the Allan Simonsen Pole Position Trophy.
Starting from P3 tomorrow will be the #37 McLaren 12C GT3 which went 2:04.0006 at the hands of Shane van Gisbergen. Alongside the McLaren will be the #63 Erebus Mercedes which couldn’t quite pull off a late charge for pole, when Will Davison was the last car across the line, setting a time of 2:04.2563.
Rick Kelly’s 2:04.7643 lap set during the morning session was enough to put the #32 Nissan GTR on the third row. A dispute over technical regulations saw the #23 Lamborghini Gallardo forced to change to 2013-spec and move from Class B up to Class A. The team spent the morning session making the required changes, mostly to do with aerodynamics. David Russell returned to the track in the afternoon to top the time sheets in Qualifying 2 and his time of 2:05.0320 secured P6 on the starting grid.
You could throw a blanket over the next three cars, all Audi R8 LMS Ultras. The Audis posted their fastest times in the cooler morning conditions, with the #9 Network Clothing R8 recording a 2:05.5919 lap; the #3 Phoenix Racing R8 was desperately close with a time of 2:05.5946 and the #25 United Autosports R8 went 2:05.7175.
The top 10 is rounded out by #48 Lamborghini Gallardo which recorded its 2:06.3498 time in the morning session.
After collecting the pole trophy Engel paid tribute to Simonsen, killed at Le Mans last year, as well as his former teammate Sean Edwards, who died after a testing accident in Queensland where he was acting as a private tutor.
2014 Bathurst 12 Hour – Qualifying times
Qualifyng 1 | Qualifying 2 | Qualifying 3
Mika Salo driving the #88 Maranello Motorsport Ferrari has claimed provisional pole position for the 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour race with a blistering 2:03.9421 lap time posted late in Qualifying 1 this morning.
Salo’s time is a new lap record for a GT car and is the fastest lap ever by a closed roof racecar around Mount Panorama.
The one hour session was marred by two red flags which cost competitors more than 30 minutes of track time. A total of four cars were lost, perhaps for the rest of the weekend, but thankfully no driver suffered serious injury.
The first incident occurred early in the session, which began at 9am, when Jason Bright hit the wall on the exit of Reid Park. His #5 Audi R8 was left stricken in the middle of the track as cars came flying up the Mountain. Most cars got past without incident, however the Porsche 911s of Shane Smollen and Garth Walden came to blows trying to avoid Bright’s car.
Bright was reportedly unconscious for a short time but he was able to walk away from the car and was taken to Bathurst Hospital for observation.
It took 25 minutes to clear the track and when the green flag dropped it wasn’t long before cold tyres caught out Ben Schoots who nosed the #65 Daytona Coupe into the concrete barrier after the Cutting. Another red flag followed and gave race organisers cause to extend the session by a few minutes.
The closing 15 minutes of Qualifying 1 was very entertaining and raises hopes for some fast times in this afternoon’s Class A only session at 2:20pm.
Salo holds a gap of 0.8s back to a trio of cars who all ran in the 2:04s. In second place was Maro Engel in the 2013 race winning #1 Erebus Mercedes with a lap of 2:04.7643. The Nismo-backed #32 Nissan GTR continued its strong form on the Mountain with Rick Kelly recording a time of 2:04.8228.
Shane van Gisbergen lapped in 2:04.9150 to further prove his versatility with the fourth fastest time in the #37 McLaren 12C GT3. Three Audi R8s filled the next three positions with laps in the 2:05 bracket.
With one hand on the pole postion trophy named after Allan Simonsen, Mika Salo acknowledged the former Maranello Motorsport driver was inspiring the team. Speaking to Speedcafe.com Salo said: “We need to keep the trophy for Allan Simonsen. He would have been on the pole anyway, so it’s good to get it for him.”
Salo and the rest of the Class A runners have to get through two more qualifying sessions before pole position is confirmed but with warmer conditions early this afternoon Maranello Motorsport may have cause to be confident of securing P1 for tomorrow’s race.
A full list of times from Quali 1 can be seen on the Natsoft website.
Keen for some more onboard action to get you ready for tomorrow’s Bathurst 12 Hour race. Here’s a couple of laps from inside the #23 Lamborghini Gallardo with David Russell posting what was a GT lap record (2:05.9s) and also Laurens Vanthoor driving the #3 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS.
Factory Porsche driver Patrick Long, who is racing in the Class B entered #12 911 Carrera Cup car, drops in to give his impressions after his first visit to Bathurst.
Live streaming for today’s action at the Bathurst 12 Hour is now underway and includes all support categories as well. Strap yourself in and enjoy the day, which starts with a one hour HQ Holden race.
0900–1000: Qualifying 1 (All classes)
1330–1410: Qualifying 2 (All classes)
1420–1435: Qualifying 3 (Class A only)
Defending champions Erebus Motorsport have signaled their intentions with the #1 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 setting the fastest time in practice at the 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour today. With Maro Engel behind the wheel his time of 2:04.4533 established a new lap record for a tintop car around Mount Panorama.
Conditions were hot late in the afternoon but as Practice 4 drew to a close the temperature dropped a few degrees and with more rubber on the resurfaced circuit times began to tumble. Engel posted his time with 10 minutes remaining in Practice 4. Around the same time the second Erebus car also bettered the old record when the #63 SLS AMG GT3 lapped in 2:05.3339.
Earlier in the day the Class B #23 Lamborghini Gallardo showed a clean pair of heels with David Russell setting a new GT benchmark of 2:05.9397. Of course, Russell’s record didn’t last the day and with more hot weather forecast for the rest of the weekend we expect tomorrow morning’s open qualifying session could yet see the fastest time of the day, traffic permitting.
There will be two open quali sessions tomorrow with a final 15 minute session immediately after Quali 2 open to Class A cars only.
After the break you can see a gallery of images from today and yesterday’s pre-race preparations with thanks to Joel Strickland Photographics. Use the links below to check out the official lap times from all four practice sessions.
2014 Bathurst 12 Hour – Friday practice lap times
Practice 1 | Practice 2 | Practice 3 | Practice 4
[Pics: Joel Strickland Photographics]
The #32 Nissan GTR Nismo GT3 has just set the fastest time in Practice 3 at the Bathurst 12 Hour. At the wheel for this afternoon’s flying lap was Bathurst rookie Alex Buncombe who set a time of 2:06.5958. That’s a bit off this morning’s pace when David Russell set a GT3 practice record with his 2:05.9397 lap during Practice 2 in the #23 Lamborghini Gallardo.
From that morning session here is an onboard video with V8 Supercar ace Rick Kelly driving the GTR. He lapped in the low 2:07s and said it was his second fastest-lap ever around the 6.2km Mount Panorama circuit.
A full race program including all support categories can be found on the Bathurst 12 Hour website, but here’s the key times for the main runners.
Aside from the race itself the key timeslot will be 2:20pm tomorrow where the Class A runners will be let off the leash for a frantic 15 minute qualifying session. For the first time the GT3 runners won’t be cobbled by a time ceiling, they’ll be going as fast as they dare with expectations a new course record could be set.
0745–0845: Practice 1 (Classes C, D, E, F & I)
0855–0955: Practice 2 (Classes A & B)
1305–1405: Practice 3 (All classes)
1615–1715: Practice 4 (All classes)
0900–1000: Qualifying 1 (All classes)
1330–1410: Qualifying 2 (All classes)
1420–1435: Qualifying 3 (Class A only)
0615–1815: 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour
[Pic: Race Torque Media]
Live coverage for the 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour will be available throughout the weekend, culminating with SBS TV covering the final three hours of the race across the nation.
Live streaming and live audio (via Radio Le Mans) will do the bulk of the work prior to the race climax on televsion. If you can’t see the live stream here at AUSmotive then keep an eye on the official race website.
Lap times for practice, qualifying and the race can be monitored on the NatSoft website too, just select the Bathurst 12 Hour entry and follow the relevant links.
You can also keep up to date with on track and behind the scenes action by following the Bathurst 12 Hour on Facebook and twitter (use #B12hr hashtag).
[Pic: Race Torque Media]
Just a a couple of days from this weekend’s 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour race now is a good time to cast an eye over the official entry list. And what an entry list it is too!
There’s six classes in all, with the overall race winner expected to come from the 14-strong field of Class A (GT3 Outright) competitors. The #1 Erebus Motorsport Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 is back to defend its 2013 crown. Only Bernd Schneider returns for driving duties with Erebus, he will be joined by Maro Engel and Nico Bastian. Erebus will run a second SLS AMG GT3 (#63) to be crewed by Will Davison, Jack LeBrocq and Greg Crick.
Audi will have four representatives in Class A headlined by the #3 Phoenix Racing entry of Rahel Frey, René Rast and Laurens Vanthoor. Former winner Christopher Mies joins Marc Cini in his #9 R8 LMS Ultra along with Mark Eddy. The #5 Audi will be shared among a strong local crew of Jason Bright, Warren Luff, Rod Salmon and Liam Talbot. United Autosport rounds out Audi’s GT3 entrants in the #25 car driven by Marcus Winkelhock, Mark Patterson and Eric Lux.
Ferrari will be represented for the third year in a row by the #33 Clearwater Racing entry of Mok Weng Sun, Craig Baird and Matt Griffin. They’ve finished the race in third (2012) and second (2013) so will be hoping for another year of progression up the podium. The #88 Maranello Motorsport 458 GT3 will again attract attention with this year’s line up consisting of Craig Lowndes, John Bowe, Mika Salo and Peter Edwards.
Tony Quinn’s diversity in exotic racing ownership has extended to a McLaren 12C GT3 (#37) and he’ll be making that car’s debut in the Bathurst 12 hour with his son Klark and Andrew Kirkaldy.
Also making its B12hr debut is the #32 Nismo-backed Nissan GTR to be driven by Rick Kelly, Katsumasa Cyio, Alex Buncombe and Wolfgang Reip.
Class B (GT3) is dominated by Porsche 911s, with 10 of the 14 entries coming from Stuttgart. These cars are older-spec GT3 machines and two Audi R8s and a pair of Lamborghini Gallardos round out the category.
The stand out crew here is the #12 McElrea Racing 997 GT3 Cup (2012) driven by well-established racers Patrick Long, Alex Davison and David Calvert-Jones. A touch of Hollywood is represented by Eric Bana who is sharing the #99 Gallardo with mates Peter Hill and Simon Middleton.
A small field of three forms the Class C (GT4) field, including a Ginetta G50, a Lotus Exige Cup R and a Lotus Exige S.
Class D (Invitational 3001cc+) is headlined by the #7 Dean Herridge Subaru WRX STi, which will face stiff competition from a mixed bag of makes and models including a BMW 335i, a BMW E46 GTR, a BMW E92 M3, a Daytona Coupe and a pair of Seat Leon Supercopas.
Class E (Invitational up to 3000cc) consists of three Fiat Abarths, so if nothing else the Italian manufacturer is assured of a class win! Similarly, Class I (Invitational, non-production) is made of up of three Ford Focus GTCs and will see Grant Denyer at the wheel of the #70 entry.
All going well there’ll be 54 cars on the starting grid on Sunday morning, with the late withdrawal of the Vita4One Racing BMW team being the only downer, in what shapes as the most exciting and competitive Bathurst 12 Hour race yet.
The 2014 Bathurst 12 hour race takes place this weekend and to help get you in the mood the official race twitter account has taken us on a lap of the famed 6.2km Mount Panorama circuit.
Of note is the new super smooth surface the drivers will experience on Australia’s toughest and most spectacular race track. Check it out below.
GT racing specialists Vita4One Racing will field two BMW Z3 GT3s in the 2014 Bathurst 12 hour (7–9 February). They will form part of the capacity 55 car field in what shapes as being one of the best 12 hours yet in the GT era.
The GT3-outright (Class A) field includes reigning Bathurst 12 Hour champions Erebus Motorsport (Mercedes Benz SLS AMG) and 2012 winners Phoenix Racing (Audi R8 LMS Ultra), Australian GT Champions VIP Petfoods Racing (Porsche GT3 Cup R), reigning Spa 24-hour champions HTP Motorsport (Mercedes Benz SLS AMG) a factory-entered Nissan GTR NISMO GT3 and also current-specification GT cars from Ferrari, Lamborghini and Chevrolet.
Vita4One racing, based in Olpe, Germany, won the FIA GT Championship every year between 2006 and 2009 and were world champions in 2010, then running the famous Maserati MC12. Following a brief stint with Ferrari the team switched to BMW Motorsport Z4M GT3s at the beginning of the 2012 season and continues to operate the cars to this day.
Read more, including the full field of entries, using the source link below.
[Source: Bathurst 12 hour]