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Traffic The Key At Bathurst During Opening Practice
The big discussion during opening practice at Bathurst for round one of the Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli has been not so much the expected pace and strategy during Sunday’s 50-minute race [and in some cases the subsequent 11:10-hours that follows], but negotiating traffic.
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“I’ve done a lot of endurance races over the years,” Maranello Motorsport’s John Bowe explained, “but I don’t know that I’ve ever faced this much traffic here, at least not during the modern era.”
“It’s hard to predict with some of the cars which way they’re going to move, so you’ve really got to be cautious,” Craig Lowndes added.
“I’m not sure you can read too much into the speed of the lead drivers,” reigning Bathurst 12-Hour champion Darryl O’Young said. “The pace was set by some of the fast guys who got a clear lap after a red flag incident, where a lot of other quick teams were caught by traffic, so I don’t think it’s a great gauge.”
Regardless of what a driver will say to you publicly, there is some merit to sitting at the top of the timesheets in practice, even if just a moral victory, so that means the honours on day one went Maranello Motorsport’s track record holder [GT] Allan Simonsen (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3), the Dane one of few drivers to record a clear lap late in the final session.
His 2:08.5414 eclipsed the 2:09.0350 set by Skwirk Racing’s [Audi R8 LMS ultra] Warren Luff in session two.
With track temperatures topping 50 degrees in the final session during the heat of the afternoon, there was little real improvement across the timesheets, with Erebus Racing’s new V8 Supercar recruit Lee Holdsworth setting the second fastest time for the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG team, just eight one hundredths slower, and the second Ferrari 458 Italia of Craig Baird just hundredths slower again in third (2:08.6423).
Luff’s second session time was enough to hold on to fourth, the experienced Supercar campaigner admitting that he was held up across the mountain on a faster lap, but that he was more than comfortable with where they were sitting. “Today was more about setting a benchmark with the new ‘ultra’ aero, and getting more laps for Rod [Salmon],” he said.
Salmon relished the extra laps, the two-time 12-Hour race winner [2008/09] settling into a pace in the mid 2:15s.
“This is a race that’s about racecraft, and not so much about speed,” Salmon said. “I have to be careful not to get sucked into trying to race a faster pace, because at the end of the day, I’m racing guys for a championship, as well as the 12-Hour, so I need to focus on matching the guys I’m actually racing in that championship, and give the car to Warren and Craig to go after the outright race win.”
Steven Richards turned in the fifth fastest time for new Australian GT recruit Justin McMillan, the two-time Victorian State Series champion though was immediately into the 15s and smiling broadly.
David Russell in Roger Lago’s JBS Swift Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 was next, mere thousandths clear of Shane Van Gisbergen (Klark Quinn’s Porche GT3.R), with multiple DTM Champion Bernd Schneider well within reach.
Greg Murphy proved again why he is regarded as one of the best drivers in the world around the Mount Panorama circuit, the New Zealander setting the fourth fastest time in the opening session in just a handful of laps before handing over to Trofeo team-boss Jim Manolios. Manolios did the bulk of the three sessions in the car, shaving four seconds off his previous best at Bathurst, whilst team-mate Ivan Capelli managed just one quick lap in the 19s before illness kept him sidelined for the remainder of the day.
Tony Quinn proved to be comfortable, and quick in his all-new Prodrive built Aston Martin Vantage GT3, the experienced sportscar pilot well inside the top ten during the early sessions and showing again how comfortable he is with a front engined car. That said his pace in the car he’s sharing with son Klark and Shane Van Gisbergen was not too dissimilar, suggesting that it too would be one to watch with Porsche’s proven strength in endurance competition.
With Matt Kinsgley out of the event after selling his Type 996 Cup Car on the eve of the event, and George Foessel unable to achieve the licencing to meet the 12-Hour event requirements, it was down to son Ben [Foessel], and new Ginetta G50 recruits Mark Griffith and Michael Hovey to fill the AGT non-12 Hour positions, all three improving their pace across the day.
Qualifying for the opening round of the Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli begins at 7:45am on Saturday (February 9), with a second session at 13:40, and the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour race gets underway at 7:00am on Sunday, February 10.
Live streaming will be available by; www.bathurst12hour.com.au
Keep track of the AGT ‘race within a race’ via the AGT website - www.australiangt.com.au and via Facebook; AustralianGT
Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli
Rnd#1 - Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour - combined practice times (sessions 1/2/3)
1. Edwards/Bowe/Simonsen/Salo (Il Bello Rosso Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) - 2:08.5414
2. Slade/Holdsworth/Hackett (Erebus Racing Mercedes Benz AMG SLS GT3) - 2:08.6271
3. Weng Sun/Baird/Griffin (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)
- 2:08.6423
4. Salmon/Lowndes/Luff (Skwirk.com.au Audi R8 LMS ultra) - 2:09.3050
5. McMillan/Richards/Lilley (GB Galvanizing Lamborghini Gallardo LP600) - 2:09.9840
6. Lago/Russell/Kox (JBS Swift Lamborghini Gallardo LP600)
- 2:10.0319
7. Quinn/Quinn/Van Gisbergen (VIP Petfoods Porsche Type 997 GT3-R) - 2:10.0381
8. Schneider/Jaeger/Roloff (Erebus Racing Mercedes Benz AMG SLS GT3) - 2:10.1175
9. Manolios/Murphy/Capelli (Chevrolet Corvette Z06.R GT3) - 2:10.2508
10. Tony Quinn (VIP Petfoods Aston Martin Vantage GT3) - 2:11.8080
11. Koutsoumidis/McInnes/Middleton/O’Young (Equity-One Audi R8 LMS) - 2:16.7311
12. Ben Foessel (Motor School Porsche Type 996 GT3 Cup)
- 2:29.7933
13. Mark Griffith (Griffith Corporation Ginetta G50 GT4)
- 2:31.0517
14. Michael Hovey (ESP Print Management Ginetta G50 GT4)
- 2:31.3214
The 2013 Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli is proudly supported by Pirelli, Darrell Lea, JAS Forwarding Worldwide and Z Motorsport Memorabilia.
2013 Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli - calendar
Rnd#1, 8-10 February - Bathurst 12-Hour, NSW
Rnd#2, 28 Feb - 3 March - Clipsal, Adelaide, SA
Rnd#3, 24-26 May - Phillip Island, Victoria
Rnd#4, 12-14 July - Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW
Rnd#5, 2-4 August - Queensland Raceway, Ipswich, QLD
Rnd#6, 8-10 November - Highland Motorsport Park, NZ
PaddockTalk Perspective
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