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Deja Vu In Qualifying For The Bathurst 12-Hour
During qualifying for the 2012 Bathurst 12-Hour Craig Baird broke the 2:08 minute qualifying benchmark, netting his team a 50kg weight penalty as a result, and the loss of his fastest lap time. This year the benchmark was lowered to 2:06, and yet again a Ferrari went below the required mark, netting the fastest GT driver around Mount Panorama a weight penalty and a P2 starting position.
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“We didn’t have any predictive timer in the car during the session,” car-owner and Allan Simonsen’s co-driver Peter Edwards admitted. “So we weren’t sure exactly where the mark was and we got caught. For sure it’s not ideal, but we were actually heavier as a minimum weight in the car last year WITH the 50kg, so it shouldn’t be too big a drama."
Despite the pace of the Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia, it wasn’t all plain sailing, regular co-driver John Bowe falling foul of the traffic during the afternoon session with the MacPherson Mosler making contact with the front of the car in Forrest’s Elbow, the very same part of the circuit that eliminated Trofeo Motorsport’s Greg Murphy in the opening session.
“I know how dangerous it is around here,” Bowe shrugged. “He moved so far to the right on the way into the cutting, that I thought he’d seen me, but as I got alongside him, he turned in.”
Fortunately for the Maranello team, it was the final lap of the session, and Bowe was able to limp the car back to the pits, with what appeared to be relatively light damage.
For Murphy though the news wasn’t quite as good after contact with a slower BMW.
“I got held up all the way down the Dipper, through to Forrest’s Elbow with the BMW sitting in the middle of the road. He clearly didn’t see my car behind, and as we came into the right hand kink heading down to the Elbow, I went down the inside, and he hit me in the back. I’m not really sure what was going on because I thought I gave him heaps of room. Maybe he got a surprise as I went past him and he turned left, I don’t know..
“It tapped the car in the rear and threw it sideways and it went straight in the fence. Those things are always bad, we’ve just got to assess the damage and see how bad it is - but it’s not cosmetic, it’s mechanical.”
“We’ll fix it,” team-boss Jim Manolios confirmed. “Our immediate concern was that the chassis was damaged, and given it’s alloy, we didn’t expect there would be too many aluminium fabricators around, so that was our concern, but it looks okay. We’ve got plenty of parts, so we’ll work to put it back together and see how we go in tomorrows warm up.”
Whilst it wasn’t all good news for the Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli regulars, it wasn’t all bad news either, with the top four positions on the grid for the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour going to series regulars.
With Simonsen’s penalty, pole position shifted to the #63 Erebus Motorsport Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, with V8 Supercar regular, and new Mercedes recruit Lee Holdsworth setting the second fastest time, just two tenths off the benchmark time.
With his penalty imposed, Simonsen’s second fastest lap dropped him to second on the grid ahead of the Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 of Craig Baird, Matt Griffin and Mok Weng Sun - the third placed finisher in the 2012 running of the event [even with a 50kg weight penalty].
Baird was strong in the opening session, but Irishman Griffin was impressive with his pace, setting the fastest time in the car – and topping session two.
Fourth fastest was the black JBS Swift Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 of Roger Lago, with young part-time V8 Supercar pilot David Russell just hundredths slower than Griffin in the opening session.
The Melbourne Performance Centre run Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra of Mark Eddy/Marc Cini/Dean Grant/Christopher Mies was next fastest, the young German though hampered by traffic and an alternator failure which saw him stop just 100 meters past the pit exit in the opening minute of the session.
Fired up by the incident and an issue with the team radio, the young German charged, his sideways exit from turn one on his first flying lap evidence of his ability on the mountain. In the end it wasn’t pole, but like team-mates Lowndes and Luff, he agreed that it wasn’t critical.
“I think we could have done a low six easily, and if we’d had a chance to run a clear lap with no benchmark time, I feel we might have extracted a five from the car as well, but at the end of the day it’s a long race.
“I’ve never raced on the Pirelli tyre before, but I heard good things about them and it’s true, they have very little drop off and the car is very consistent on them.”
German sports car stars Bernd Schneider, Thomas Jaeger and Alex Roloff were next fastest, the experienced Mercedes pilots getting faster with every lap, although they too discovered that there was very little time to gain in the warmer afternoon session, with the bulk of the grid set in the opening early morning session.
V8 Supercar pilot Shane Van Gisbergen was next in the Championship winning Porsche GT3-R of Klark Quinn, a car which was attracting more than its fair share of attention in the pits due to a recent upgrade.
“They’re all trying to win it before the race starts,” Tony Quinn quipped in reference to an appeal about the introduction of the upgrade, which although scheduled as an approved upgrade for 2013, hasn’t as yet run anywhere in the world, and therefore, is in the process of, well, being processed.
With a mix of regulations that separates the Australian GT Championship from the Bathurst 12-Hour, the approval for the Porsche to race in the 12-Hour event was still being discussed long after second qualifying with a decision still pending.
Steven Richards was the seventh fastest AGT regular, in Justin McMillan’s stunning GB Galvanizing Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 despite a scary moment late in the opening session with a spin in the Cutting.
“We’d have liked to have been a bit faster, but traffic has been a huge problem for all three drivers,” M Motorsport team manager Josh Hunt admitted.
Despite the incident at Forrest’s Elbow, the Trofeo Corvette set the tenth fastest outright time, and is classified eighth for the AGT series, the team excited to be lining up on the grid alongside pre-event favourites Craig Lowndes and Warren Luff.
Lowndes started the opening session and hit traffic early after turning just two laps. The team elected to run car-owner Rod Salmon for the bulk of the 90-minute session before putting Luff in for a couple of late flyers, but they were unable to improve on Lowndes earlier benchmark.
“I got a bit wide at turn one on my flyer,” Luff admitted afterwards. “But overall we’re not concerned about race pace, we’re more concerned about setup for the long haul. Both Craig and I know there’s a six in the car - look at Christopher [Mies] - but there’s nothing to be proved by risking a time.”
As it was Salmon’s time in the car proved invaluable, the two-time event winner dropping into the low 13s, right in the window of where the team wanted him to be.
Also within fractions of a second of the Salmon/Lowndes/Luff car were new Audi recruits Dean Koutsoumidis and Andrew McInnes, the 2012 GT Trophy Class champions were relishing their time behind the wheel of the Audi R8 LMS, with reigning 12-Hour winner Darryl O’Young turning in some quick laps during the opening session.
“I’m just thankful that Dean and Andrew gave me the car so that I could grab two clear laps,” the two-time winner admitted. “The car is great, the team is great, I’m just happy to be here..!”
Running double duty with son Klark in the Porsche, Tony Quinn was also running strongly in his new Aston Martin Vantage GT3, setting a time just outside the top ten.
“It’s tough to get a clean lap, but already I really like the car, it’s good in the fast stuff, it brakes well, it keeps up with the Audis, I think it will be good for the year ahead to be honest.”
Like Tony Quinn and the two Ginetta G50s, Ben Foessel was only eligible to run the second qualifying session as part of the ’50-minute’ squad, the cars entered solely in the opening round of the Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli.
“I’m pretty happy with qualifying, I managed to shave another 1.5 seconds off my practice pace and move up the field. The car has been faultless, but it’s still a learning experience, especially with so much traffic - I’ve had a couple of close moments up on top of the mountain, but nothing too extreme.”
After running within tenths of each other throughout practice, only one Ginetta tuned laps, with Michael Hovey improving to break into the 2:30 bracket to move up the grid, whilst Mark Griffith was unable to turn a lap after a shift linkage seized prior to the session, forcing him to face a rear-of-field start tomorrow.
For the assembled AGT teams, and those continuing on for the full 12-Hours, it’s now a waiting game as the clock clicks down to a 7:00am start tomorrow [Sunday] morning.
The event will be broadcast via live streaming; www.bathurst12hour.com.au
You can also 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 Qualifying (sessions 1/2)
1. [1] Slade/Holdsworth/Hackett (Erebus Racing Mercedes Benz AMG SLS GT3) - 2:06.2730
2. [2] Edwards/Bowe/Simonsen/Salo (Il Bello Rosso Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) - 2:06.4839
3. [3] Weng Sun/Baird/Griffin (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)
- 2:06.8857
4. [4] Lago/Russell/Kox (JBS Swift Lamborghini Gallardo LP600)
- 2:06.9615
5. [6] Schneider/Jaeger/Roloff (Erebus Racing Mercedes Benz AMG SLS GT3) - 2:07.2389
6. [8] Quinn/Quinn/Van Gisbergen (VIP Petfoods Porsche Type 997 GT3-R) - 2:07.6015
7. [9] McMillan/Richards/Lilley (GB Galvanizing Lamborghini Gallardo LP600) - 2:07.6838
8. [10] Manolios/Murphy/Capelli (Chevrolet Corvette Z06.R GT3) - 2:08.6714
9. [12] Salmon/Lowndes/Luff (Skwirk.com.au Audi R8 LMS ultra) - 2:08.7569
10. [13] Koutsoumidis/McInnes/Middleton/O’Young (Equity-One Audi R8 LMS) - 2:08.8931
11. [tbc] Tony Quinn (VIP Petfoods Aston Martin Vantage GT3) - 2:10.6374
12. [tbc] Ben Foessel (Motor School Porsche Type 996 GT3 Cup)
- 2:27.6843
13. [tbc] Michael Hovey (ESP Print Management Ginetta G50 GT4)
- 2:30.9941
14. [tbc] Mark Griffith (Griffith Corporation Ginetta G50 GT4)
- ntr
The 2013 Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli is proudly supported by Pirelli, Darrell Lea, JAS Forwarding Worldwide and Z Motorsport Memorabilia.
PaddockTalk Perspective
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