Marciello tops red flag-shortened Bathurst 12 Hour Practice 4

GruppeM Mercedes-AMG pilot Raffaele Marciello is the fastest driver after a truncated fourth practice session at the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour.

Marciello set the first ‘three’ of the weekend when he clocked a 2:03.9958s on his fourth flying lap in Car #999 and that remained the benchmark time when a red flag was called just before the halfway mark due to a rollover for Keith Kassulke at The Chase.

With track crews needing to repair the barriers which had been struck heavily by the Invitational class #52 MARC II, Race Control opted to call the session.

Marciello and GruppeM Racing were thus locked into top spot not only for Practice 4 but for the opening day as a whole, from the #75 SunEnergy 1 Mercedes-AMG in which Luca Stolz set a 2:04.1362s during that entry’s first run in the most recent session at Mount Panorama.

Marciello, Stolz, and Audi Sport Customer Racing’s Mattia Drudi had been engaged in a three-way battle during the opening salvos, but Mathieu Jaminet had moved into third with a 2:04.2938s in the #912 Manthey EMA Porsche, a few minutes prior to the red flag.

Drudi and the Melbourne Performance Centre-run #74 Audi thus ended up fourth, from the #24 Volante Rosso Motorsport Mercedes-AMG thanks to a 2:04.8316s from Jordan Love.

The #10 MPC Audi ended up sixth-fastest for the session, from the Supercheap Auto-backed #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes-AMG into which Shane van Gisbergen had climbed just before the session came to a premature end.

Rounding out the top 10 were the #777 MPC Audi, the #32 Team WRT BMW, and the #44 Valmont Racing Mercedes-AMG.

Having topped Practice 2, his very first session at Mount Panorama, Valentino Rossi was sent out again for the opening run in the #46 Team WRT BMW and managed to beat his earlier effort when he set a 2:05.2838s.

Practice 5, an hour-long session open to all drivers, takes place tomorrow from 08:35 local time/AEDT.

Results: Practice 4 All drivers

Pos	Num	Team/Sponsor	Driver(s)	Car	Cls	Fastest lap	Split
1	999	GruppeM Racing	M.Grenier/R.Marciello	Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO	PRO	2:03.9958
2	75	Sun Energy 1	J.Gounon/L.Stolz	Mercedes Benz AMG GT	PRO	2:04.1362	0:00.1404
3	912	Manthey EMA	Mathieu Jaminet	Porsche GT3 R Spec 2	PRO	2:04.2938	0:00.2980
4	74	The Bend Motorsport Park / MPC	P.Niederhauser/M.Drudi	Audi R8 LMS Evo 2	PRO	2:04.4741	0:00.4783
5	24	Tony Bates Racing /Makita	Jordan Love	Mercedes-AMG GT3	PAM	2:04.8316	0:00.8358
6	10	MYLAND Team IMS	Dylan O’Keeffe	Audi R8 LMS Evo 2	SIL	2:04.8880	0:00.8922
7	888	Supercheap Auto Racing	S.van Gisbergen/M.Goetz	Mercedes Benz AMG GT	PRO	2:04.9131	0:00.9173
8	777	The Bend Motorsport Park / MPC	C.Mies/R.Feller	Audi R8 LMS Evo 2	PAM	2:04.9137	0:00.9179
9	32	Team WRT	S van der Linde	BMW M4GT3	PRO	2:05.0300	0:01.0342
10	44	Valmont Racing	Aaron Cameron	Mercedes Benz AMG GT	SIL	2:05.1513	0:01.1555
11	55	FUCHS Lubricants Racing	James Golding	Audi R8 LMS Evo 2	PAM	2:05.2080	0:01.2122
12	46	Team WRT	A.Farfus/V.Rossi	BMW M4GT3	PRO	2:05.2838	0:01.2880
13	4	Grove Racing	Brenton Grove	Porsche  911 GT3R	PAM	2:05.2954	0:01.2996
14	222	Scott Taylor Motorsport	Alex Davison	Mercedes Benz AMG GT	PAM	2:05.6577	0:01.6619
15	65	Sportsbet Team MPC	Fraser Ross	Audi R8 LMS Evo 2	PAM	2:05.6957	0:01.6999
16	6	Wall Racing	D.Wall/G.Denyer	Lamborghini Huracan	SIL	2:05.7074	0:01.7116
17	9	Hallmarc Team MPC	L.Holdsworth/D.Fiore	Audi R8 LMS Evo 2	PAM	2:06.2637	0:02.2679
18	77	Mercedes-AMG Craft-Bamboo	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes-AMG GT3	PRO	2:06.3307	0:02.3349
19	99	Boost Mobile Racing	J.Whincup/R.Stanaway	Mercedes Benz AMG GT	PAM	2:06.8163	0:02.8205
20	47	Supabarn Team MPC	Jonathon Webb	Audi R8 LMS Evo 2	SIL	2:07.5106	0:03.5148
21	50	MMotorsport /Vantage Racing	Trent Harrison	Audi R8 LMS Evo 2	SIL	2:10.8399	0:06.8441
22	52	Wheels /FX Racing	Keith Kassulke	MARC II V8	INV	2:11.8047	0:07.8089
23	19	Nineteen Corporation	Christan Pancione	Mercedes Benz	INV	2:12.7506	0:08.7548
24	111	111Racing/MRA Motorsport	Darren Currie	MARC I Mazda	INV	2:15.4056	0:11.4098
25	101	Harrolds Volante Rosso M’Sport	Josh Hunt	Mercedes Benz AMG GT	SIL	2:24.8160	0:20.8202