Audi back on top in final Bathurst practice

Audi has set an ominous pace heading into qualifying following a truncated final practice session at the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour.

Former Nurburgring 24 Hour winner Christopher Haase posted the fastest time of the weekend so far with a 2:03.06s effort in the dying minutes of the hit-out.

Audi and BMW continued to dominate the top of the timesheets as the marques filled the top five positions.

Kelvin van der Linde had led the session before Haase’s effort but his time was good enough to ensure Audi Sport Customer Racing Australia left the 50 minute session with a 1-2.

The South African is sharing the R8 with Supercars star Garth Tander and factory Audi pilot Frederic Vervisch.

The #43 Schnitzer BMW of Chaz Mostert, Marco Wittmann and Augusto Farfus was third fastest, with Wittmann’s best lap 0.8s adrift of the pace.

BMW Team SRM ended up fourth courtesy of Philipp Eng’s time which had put the car top of the times early in the session.

Fresh from an off-site visit to repair the car following a crash in Practice 4, Kiwi team International Motorsport slotted into fifth and fastest in Pro-Am.

This lap arrived after an incident with the #37 WRT Audi at Murray’s Corner.

Seven-time Supercars champion Jamie Whincup hauled the SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG to sixth albeit 1.2s shy of the pace.

Bentley Team M-Sport finished seventh despite suffering contact twice with the #85 Class B Porsche on the run to The Cutting.

Steven Kane set the time in the #17 Continental GT3 which is making is final factory appearance this weekend.

The #3 Audi headed the Am class following Daniel Gaunt’s time that put the entry eighth overall.

A throttle sensor issue saw the #58 YNA Autosport McLaren of Shane van Gisbergen, Craig Lowndes and Come Ledogar spend the majority of the session in the garage.

The car finished the session in 31st position.

Practice 5 was interrupted by two red flag periods.

A spin from Michael Caine in the #66 Daytona Viper on the entry to The Cutting was the first stoppage.

Caine lost control on his own and was lucky to avoid contact with the barriers.

However, Zane Goddard in the #94 MARC Mazda wasn’t so lucky as he smashed into the wall on the run to Reid Park with 20 minutes to go, causing the second red flag.

The Gold Coast driver ran wide and was unable to recover the car before heavy contact which severely damaged the car.

“It looks like he’s just run wide up under the tree there and got the wall on the exit. (It’s) pretty fast up there,” said MARC Cars boss Ryan McLeod.

“We hope the driver’s alright, the cars are very safe, very strong, and we put a lot of work into the engineering of the safety equipment and parts that are in the car.

“So I’m sure he’ll be okay. He’ll be a bit sore but just over the way there we do have a spare car so it is entered, so if we need it we can call on it.”

Class B was headed by the #23 Porsche, while Class C was topped by the #44 BMW Team SRM M4 GT4.

Meanwhile, the #91 MARC entry was quickest in the Invitational Class.

Qualifying will begin at 1105 with a 45 minutes session for all classes.

The GT3s will return to the track for qualifying at 1155 local time/AEDT.

Results: Practice 5

Pos	Num	Team	Drivers	Car	Class	Time	Split
1	74	Valvoline Jamecpem	C.Haase M.Winkelhock	Audi R8 LMS	APP	2:03.0618
2	22	Valvoline / Jamecpem	G.Tander K.van der Linde	Audi R8 LMS	APP	2:03.4493	0:00.3875
3	43	BMW M Power	A.Farfus M.Wittmann	BMW M6 GT3	APP	2:03.9013	0:00.8395
4	100	Laser Plumbing and Electrical	S.Richards P.Eng	BMW M6 GT3	APP	2:04.1807	0:01.1189
5	82	“Bolt Masters, Castrol”	A.Bagnall M.Halliday	Audi R8 LMS	APA	2:04.2651	0:01.2033
6	75	Mercedes-AMG Team SunEnergy1	K.Habul J.Whincup	Mercedes AMG GT3	APP	2:04.3148	0:01.2530
7	17	Bentley Team M-Sport	S.Kane G.Smith J.Gounon	Bentley Continental	APP	2:04.4574	0:01.3956
8	3	Audi Sport Customer Racing	A.Samadi D.O’Keeffe D.Gaunt	Audi R8 LMS	AAM	2:04.6863	0:01.6245
9	29	Haemokinisis/Trofeo Estate	J.Manolios I.Capelli D.Canto	Lamborghini Huracan	APA	2:04.6994	0:01.6376
10	11	Objective Racing	T.Walls W.Luff J.Evans	McLaren 650S	APA	2:04.9082	0:01.8464
11	56	Mercedes-AMG Team Strakka	M.Buhk A.Parente	Mercedes AMG GT GT3	APP	2:04.9770	0:01.9152
12	991	EuroMechanica	L.Vanthoor E.Bamber	Porsche 911 GT3 R	APP	2:05.0729	0:02.0111
13	18	Bentley Team M-Sport	A.Soucek V.Abril	Bentley Continental	APP	2:05.2401	0:02.1783
14	37	Audi Sport Team WRT	R.Frijns S.Leonard D.Vanthoor	Audi R8 LMS	APP	2:05.2553	0:02.1935
15	12	Ice Break & Virgin Australia	D.Calvert-Jones A.Davison	Porsche 991 GT3R	APA	2:05.2854	0:02.2236
16	19	Daimler Trucks Brisbane	D.Reynolds J.Martin L.Talbot	Mercedes GT	APA	2:05.4719	0:02.4101
17	777	The Bend Motorsport Park	Y.Shahin L.Youlden T.Enge	Lamborghini Gallardo	APA	2:05.5538	0:02.4920
18	540	Boston Athletic Club	T.Pappas J.Bleekemolen	Porsche 911 GT3 R	APA	2:05.7444	0:02.6826
19	69	Supabarn	J.Koundouris T.Koundouris A.Walsh	Audi R8 LMS	AAM	2:06.2457	0:03.1839
20	911	Manthey-Racing	R.Dumas F.Makowiecki	Porsche 911	APP	2:06.8488	0:03.7870
21	91	MARC Cars Australia	R.Salmon W.Brown	MARC II V8	I	2:07.1245	0:04.0627
22	66	Daytona Sportscars	A.Macrow M.Caine	Dodge Viper	I	2:07.1465	0:04.0847
23	39	Audi Sport Team WRT	P.Dalla Lana M.Lauda	Audi R8 LMS	APA	2:07.1862	0:04.1244
24	47	YNA Autosport	F.Ross A.West	McLaren 650S GT3	APA	2:07.4150	0:04.3532
25	32	JBS Australia	R.Lago D.Russell S.Owen	Lamborghini Gallardo	APA	2:07.5502	0:04.4884
26	8	WM Waste	Max Twigg	Mercedes AMG GT3	APA	2:08.0653	0:05.0035
27	67	Gotzinger Smallgoods	J.Camilleri A.Cameron	MARC II V8	I	2:08.7691	0:05.7073
28	23	Team Carrera Cup Asia	A.Tang C.Yi-Fan	Porsche 991	B	2:10.1768	0:07.1150
29	65	Daytona Sportscars	D.Thomas R.Howell	Daytona Coupe	I	2:10.6099	0:07.5481
30	55	Strakka Racing	N.Leventis C.Waters	Mercedes AMG GT GT3	APP	2:10.8281	0:07.7663
31	58	YNA Autosport	Shane van Gisbergen	McLaren 650S GT3	APP	2:11.5227	0:08.4609
32	9	Hallmarc	M.Cini L.Holdsworth	Audi R8 LMS	APA	2:11.6421	0:08.5803
33	4	Grove Group	S.Grove B.Grove	Porsche GT3 Cup	B	2:11.7947	0:08.7329
34	6	Safe-T-Stop	R.Gartner H.Morrall	Lamborghini Gallardo	AAM	2:11.8021	0:08.7403
35	54	MARC Cars Australia	P.Morris K.Alford	MARC II V8	I	2:12.0612	0:08.9994
36	96	GAP Solutions / SEKTOR	J.Goodacre J.Love	MARC Focus V8	I	2:12.1905	0:09.1287
37	21	The Porsche Broker	D.Stutterd S.Fillmore	Porsche 911	B	2:12.2273	0:09.1655
38	85	Paul Reed Smith Guitars	C.Putman C.Espenlaub	Porsche 911GT3-Cup	B	2:13.2369	0:10.1751
39	93	MARC Cars Australia	G.Denyer T.Everingham	MARC Mazda V8	I	2:14.9233	0:11.8615
40	95	Eastgate Engineering	G.Taunton J.Busk	MARC Focus V8	I	2:15.1246	0:12.0628
41	94	MARC Cars Australia	Zane Goddard	MARC Mazda V8	I	2:16.1567	0:13.0949
42	44	BP Ultimate	D.Grant C.Hill	BMW M4 GT4	C	2:16.8382	0:13.7764
43	30	Boat Works	A.Seton M.Brabham T.Longhurst	BMW M4	C	2:17.4333	0:14.3715
44	46	Prosport Performance GABH	M.Schelp M.Braams	Porsche Cayman PRO4	C	2:19.5725	0:16.5107
45	13	JET Battery Services	D.Jorgensen B.Strom	BMW M4 GT4	C	2:20.5581	0:17.4963
46	49	Interlloy	T.Harrison C.Hill	KTM X-Bow GT4	C	2:21.4088	0:18.3470
47	40	On Track Motorsport	G.Mennell K.Booker A.Zerefos	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	B	2:21.4595	0:18.3977
48	48	Interlloy	D.Crampton C.Wood	KTM X-Bow GT4	C	2:22.3569	0:19.2951
49	77	Ginetta Australia	C.Cowham L.Kearns	Ginetta G55	C	2:22.4285	0:19.3667