Erebus stamps authority in final practice

Maro Engel set a record 2:04.5s lap of Mount Panorama to end Friday practice for the Bathurst 12 Hour at the top of the order.

The German and his Erebus Motorsport team-mate Will Davison traded times in the final 15 minutes of Practice 4 following an early smattering of red flags.

The efforts of Engel and co-driver Nico Bastian kept the #1 entry on top for most of the session before Davison rolled off a 2:05.3s with 10 minutes remaining.

Engel, who has been replaced by Davison in the team’s V8 Supercars squad for this season, then recorded a 2:04.45s that could not be beaten.

The lap was a full 1.5s faster than the previous quickest time of the day, set by David Russell and in first session.

“The boys have done a really good job, they did a few things during the day and the car is set up nice,” said Engel post-sesssion.

“The track has gripped up a bit. It’s a good finish to the day, the cars are in one piece and all the drivers have put in good laps, especially Nico for his first time here.

“All we need are some clear laps tomorrow (to see record qualifying speeds).”

Late efforts from Mika Salo and Russell put the #88 Maranello Ferrari and #23 JBS Lamborghini third and fourth respectively.

The #32 Nismo Nissan, #3 Phoenix Audi, #33 Clearwater Ferrari, #37 Quinn McLaren, #25 United Autosports Audi and #48 M Motorsport Lamborghini completed the top 10.

While the Erebus Mercedes entries showed their hand, the SLS of HTP Motorsport suffered heavy right-side damage thanks to a mistake from Harold Primat at McPhillamy Park.

The AF Corse Ferrari that was crashed during the morning meanwhile returned to the circuit for the final minutes of the day.

Australian Steve Wyatt, who had been involved in the McPhillamy Park crash, completed four laps aboard the 458.

See below for the combined results from the day’s practice sessions

Pos	Car	Competitor/Team	Drivers	Vehicle	Class	Session	Time	Gap
1	1	Erebus Motorsport	B.Schneider/M.Engel/N.Bastian	Mercedes  SLS AMG GT	A	P7	2:04.4533
2	63	Erebus Motorsport	W.Davison/J.Brocq/G.Crick	Mercedes  SLS AMG GT	A	P7	2:05.3339	0:00.8806
3	23	JBS Swift	R.Lago/D.Russell/P.Kox	Lamborghini Gallardo	B	P2	2:05.9397	0:01.4864
4	88	il Bello Rosso	P.Edwards/J.Bowe/C.Lowndes/M.Salo	Ferrari F458 Italia	A	P7	2:06.4062	0:01.9529
5	32	NISMO Athlete Global Team	R.Kelly/K.Chiyo/A.Buncombe/W.Reip	Nissan GT-R NISMO GT	A	P6	2:06.5958	0:02.1425
6	48	M Motorsport	J.McMillan/S.Richards/D.Wood/R.Lilley	Lamborghini Gallardo	A	P2	2:07.9665	0:03.5132
7	9	Network Clothing / Hallmarc	M.Cini/M.Eddy/C.Mies	Audi R8 LMS Ultra	A	P2	2:07.9675	0:03.5142
8	3	Phoenix Racing	R.Frey/R.Rast/L.Vanthoor	Audi R8 LMS Ultra	A	P7	2:07.9730	0:03.5197
9	37	Darrell Lea	T.Quinn/K.Quinn/A.Kirkaldy/S.Gisbergen	McLaren MP4 12C	A	P7	2:08.1495	0:03.6962
10	33	Clearwater Racing	W S Mok/C.Baird/M.Griffin/H.Hamaguchi	Ferrari F458 Italia	A	P7	2:08.5147	0:04.0614
11	77	AF Corse	S.Wyatt/M.Rugolo/M.Cioci	Ferrari F458 Italia	A	P2	2:09.1623	0:04.7090
12	25	United Autosports	M.Patterson/E.Lux/M.Winkelhock	Audi R8 LMS Ultra	A	P7	2:09.3757	0:04.9224
13	84	HTP Motorsport	H.Primat/T.Jaeger/M.Buhk	Mercedes SLS AMG GT3	A	P6	2:10.0501	0:05.5968
14	49	Vicious	T.Defelice/D.Canto/T.D’Alberto/R.Loberto	Ferrari F458 Italia	A	P2	2:10.0813	0:05.6280
15	5	skwirk.com.au	J.Bright/W.Luff/R.Salmon/L.Talbot	Audi R8 LMS Ultra	A	P6	2:10.2770	0:05.8237
16	69	Supabarn Supermarkets Pty Ltd	J.Koundouris/T.Koundouris/S.Owen/M.Twigg	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	B	P2	2:11.0606	0:06.6073
17	14	Oakley Motorsports	O.Gavin/R.Huff/R.Meins/K.Gleason	Audi R8 LMS	B	P2	2:11.2673	0:06.8140
18	4	Grove Group	S.Grove/E.Bamber/B.Barker	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	B	P7	2:11.5125	0:07.0592
19	12	Ice Break / Competition Motors	D.Calvert-Jones/A.Davison/P.Long	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	B	P7	2:11.9542	0:07.5009
20	45	Rentcorp Hyundai Forklifts	D.Padayachee/R.Muscat/B.Mawer	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	B	P7	2:13.4876	0:09.0343
21	19	Rosche Visper RS75	D.Flack/R.Smith/S.Smollen	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	B	P7	2:14.0317	0:09.5784
22	51	IMAK / KWIKMIT	A.Macpherson/B.Porter/G.Walden	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	B	P7	2:14.0590	0:09.6057
23	71	Equity-one Mortgage Fund	D.Koutsoumidis/D.Grant/D.Fiore/M.Loccisano	Audi R8 LMS	B	P7	2:15.2589	0:10.8056
24	65	Daytona Sportscars	J.Augustine/B.Schoots/P.Freestone	Daytona Sportscar Co	D	P6	2:16.9103	0:12.4570
25	67	Motorsport Services	J.Lowrey/T.Richards/J.Venter	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	B	P7	2:17.2355	0:12.7822
26	42	Motorline BMW	A.Gilbertson/A.Chapel/J.Clements	BMW M3 E46 GTR	D	P7	2:17.7442	0:13.2909
27	70	MARC Cars Australia Pty Ltd	G.Denyer/A.Gowans/G.Jacobson/A.Miedecke	MARC Focus GTC	I	P7	2:17.7774	0:13.3241
28	50	MARC Cars Australia Pty Ltd	K.Kassulke/J.Camilleri/C.Pither	MARC Focus GTC	I	P6	2:18.2367	0:13.7834
29	35	Sennheiser/Rentcorp Forklifts/	R.Shaw/I.Padayachee/A.Fisher/A.Zerefos	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	B	P7	2:18.3288	0:13.8755
30	99	F.X.D Workwear	P.Hill/S.Middleton/E.Bana	Lamborghini Gallardo	B	P2	2:18.4714	0:14.0181
31	60	MARC Cars Australia Pty Ltd	M.Benton/H.Morrall/D.Thomas/R.McLeod	MARC Focus GTC	I	P7	2:18.5562	0:14.1029
32	68	Motorsport Services	D.Bilski/M.Mahy/D.Glasson	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	B	P6	2:20.0991	0:15.6458
33	17	Griffith Corporation	M.Griffith/K.Reindler/D.Gaunt	Ginetta G50	C	P7	2:20.2615	0:15.8082
34	55	Compareinsurance.com.au	G.Shedden/P.Storey/B.Gower	Lotus Exige	C	P7	2:20.5284	0:16.0751
35	6	SAFE-T-STOP	R.Gartner/G.Duffy/M.Hector/S.Kostera	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	B	P7	2:20.9350	0:16.4817
36	97	“Te Manava Luxury Resort,DVS,G	W.Mortimer/A.Motrimer/M.Lyons/F.Lyons	BMW M3 GT4	D	P7	2:24.1437	0:19.6904
37	54	Donut King	A.Alford/P.Leemhuis/M.O’Connor	Lotus	C	P7	2:27.0742	0:22.6209
38	7	Maximum Motorsport	D.Herridge/J.O’Dowd/A.Kennard	Subaru WRX Sti	D	P1	2:30.4687	0:26.0154
39	22	GT Radial / Radio Hauraki	R.Billington/L.Scott/S.Owers	Seat Leon Supercopa	D	P1	2:31.6444	0:27.1911
40	96	Fiat Arbarth Motorsport	L.Youlden/P.Gover/G.Hede/M.Sinclair	Fiat Abarth 500	F	P1	2:33.2495	0:28.7962
41	95	Fiat Arbarth Motorsport	P.Stokell/T.Hagon/J.Dowling/C.Campbell	Fiat Abarth 500	F	P1	2:33.7858	0:29.3325
42	28	GWS Personnel	P.O’Donnell/A.Shephard/K.Booker/M.Chahda	BMW 335i	D	P1	2:33.9637	0:29.5104
43	66	Motorsport Services	M.Driver/D.Stutterd/G.Stewart	Seat Leon Supercopa	D	P7	2:33.9817	0:29.5284
44	59	Fiat Arbarth Motorsport	M.Cherry/M.Campbell/L.Ellery	Fiat Abarth 500	F	P1	2:36.6899	0:32.2366