Habul fastest in Bronze practice at Bathurst 12 Hour

2022 race winner Kenny Habul has clocked the fastest lap in Practice 3, for Bronze drivers only, at the 2023 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour.

Driving his own #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG, Habul finished the session with a fastest lap of 2:05.3096s, slightly quicker than the benchmark in the day’s earlier Bronze session and 0.9548s ahead of his nearest rival in the latest hit-out.

That was Liam Talbot, setting a 2:06.2644s around Mount Panorama in the #65 Melbourne Performance Centre Audi, with Brad Schumacher third in the #55 Schumacher Motorsport Audi.

Having been pipped to Practice 2 honours by none other than Valentino Rossi (#46 Team WRT BMW), Schumacher set the fastest first flyer in the third session of the day, a 2:08.6420s.

Habul then reeled off three fastest laps in a row to move the benchmark to a 2:05.3096s, which would prove the quickest lap of the session.

Schumacher got back within two seconds of the best pace when he set a 2:06.8500s early in his second run, before Talbot moved into second place with a 2:08.8281s.

Talbot closed the gap to less than a second with a 2:06.2644s with just over five minutes to go, before Schumacher improved marginally to a 2:06.4028s with the chequered flag out.

Triple Eight Race Engineering claimed fourth courtesy of Prince Jefri Ibrahim’s 2:07.3631s in the #99 Mercedes-AMG which he is sharing with Jamie Whincup and Richie Stanaway.

Ross Poulakis took fifth with a 2:07.4807s in the #101 Volante Rosso Motorsport Mercedes-AMG, with the rest of the top 10 rounded out by the #24 Volante Rosso Mercedes-AMG, the #777 MPC Audi, the #4 Grove Racing Porsche, the #10 MPC Audi, and the #44 Valmont Racing Mercedes-AMG.

The #9 MPC Audi which was crashed in the preceding session did return to the race track, with Marc Cini back in the saddle to notch up six laps of the 6.213km circuit.

Rossi, as a Silver driver, had been given dispensation to drive in the second practice session of the day which was otherwise also for Bronze drivers only, but the #46 BMW stayed in the garage for the duration of Practice 3.

Practice 4, an all-in hit-out, starts this afternoon at 16:10 local time/AEDT.

Results: Practice 3 Bronze drivers

Pos	Num	Team/Sponsor	Driver(s)	Car	Cls	Fastest lap	Split
1	75	Sun Energy 1	Kenny Habul	Mercedes Benz AMG GT	PRO	2:05.3096
2	65	Sportsbet Team MPC	Liam Talbot	Audi R8 LMS Evo 2	PAM	2:06.2644	0:00.9548
3	55	FUCHS Lubricants Racing	Brad Schumacher	Audi R8 LMS Evo 2	PAM	2:06.4028	0:01.0932
4	99	Boost Mobile Racing	Jefri Ibrahim	Mercedes Benz AMG GT	PAM	2:07.3631	0:02.0535
5	101	Harrolds Volante Rosso M’Sport	Ross Poulakis	Mercedes Benz AMG GT	SIL	2:07.4807	0:02.1711
6	24	Tony Bates Racing /Makita	Tony Bates	Mercedes-AMG GT3	PAM	2:08.2695	0:02.9599
7	777	The Bend Motorsport Park / MPC	Yasser Shahin	Audi R8 LMS Evo 2	PAM	2:08.4183	0:03.1087
8	4	Grove Racing	Stephen Grove	Porsche  911 GT3R	PAM	2:08.5872	0:03.2776
9	10	MYLAND Team IMS	Andrew Fawcet	Audi R8 LMS Evo 2	SIL	2:09.1804	0:03.8708
10	44	Valmont Racing	M.Zalloua/S.Pires	Mercedes Benz AMG GT	SIL	2:09.3204	0:04.0108
11	6	Wall Racing	G.Denyer/A.Deitz	Lamborghini Huracan	SIL	2:09.4632	0:04.1536
12	47	Supabarn Team MPC	T.Koundouris/J.Koundouris	Audi R8 LMS Evo 2	SIL	2:09.6181	0:04.3085
13	222	Scott Taylor Motorsport	Scott Taylor	Mercedes Benz AMG GT	PAM	2:12.2724	0:06.9628
14	52	Wheels /FX Racing	Hadrian Morrall	MARC II V8	INV	2:12.6693	0:07.3597
15	9	Hallmarc Team MPC	L.Holdsworth/M.Cini	Audi R8 LMS Evo 2	PAM	2:13.3270	0:08.0174
16	66	Daytona Sports Cars	B.Shoots/S.Woodman	SIN R1	INV	2:14.0121	0:08.7025
17	111	111Racing/MRA Motorsport	Grant Donaldson	MARC I Mazda	INV	2:14.5801	0:09.2705
18	19	Nineteen Corporation	Mark Griffith	Mercedes Benz	INV	2:15.7689	0:10.4593