FERRARI LEADS AUDI AND LAMBORGHINI IN PRACTICE
February 24th, 2012 richard



IT MIGHT NOT BE the fastest ever lap of Mount Panorama, but Allan Simonsen was back to his record-breaking best at Mount Panorama today.

The flying Dane set the fastest time in practice for the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour, eclipsing Jamie Whincup’s current V8 race lap record and making an early marker for others to chase.

Simonsen smashed a 2m08.24 on his second last lap of the day to bump Audi off the top of the charts, driving his stunning Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 for team Il Bello Rosso Maranello Motorsport.

Impressively, Simonsen’s international team-mate Dominik Farnbacher recorded the fourth fastest individual lap of the day earlier, on his first look at Mount Panorama.

Bathurst legend John Bowe was 10th on individual lap times, showing the consistency across the four-driver line up set to drive the Ferrari this weekend.

But as he has been on many occasions here, Simonsen was today’s star performer.

“It’s just great,” he said.

“Maranello Motorsport has put in a big effort to come here and there has been so much effort from everyone. The team are dialling everything in and getting everyone some laps and so far the team and the drivers are all pretty pleased.

“We’re just making sure it runs nice and smoothly. The car is brand new and has been fully spanner-checked by the boys here in Australia, so it’s looking good.

“But don’t forget that 12 hours is a long race and lots of things can happen. But we’re confident.”

The Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS was second, Warren Luff’s 2m08.64 set early this morning in cooler conditions standing up across the day. David Russell took the JBS Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 to third (2m09.17) – making it three different exotic brands inside the top three.

Fourth overall was the similar bright yellow Lamborghini, V8 ace Cameron McConville setting the teams’ quickest time and placing them just in front of the Clearwater Racing Ferrari.

It was a particularly notable performance from the Asian GT team, Kiwi champion Craig Baird leading the way with Irish Ferrari factory driver Matt Griffin in close company – almost matching Baird’s lap in the 2m10-range after only eight laps of the 6.213km circuit.

It wouldn’t be Bathurst without early drama – and in today’s case it was the much talked-about Erebus Racing / Black Falcon combination who felt the pressure.

American driver Bret Curtis made contact with the wall after a spin at Forrest Elbow in the second practice, moments after team-mate Jeroen Bleekemolen had set the second-quickest time of the session.

Though drivable, the car required substantial bodywork repairs to the left-rear corner and forced the team to miss the final practice of the day and valuable track time to boot – though they are expected to be back on track tomorrow.

In class B (Century Batteries GT3), Steven Johnson and Steven Richards teamed with mining magnate Nathan Tinkler to top the class order, pipping the of two New Zealand Motorsport Services-entered Porsche 997 GT3 entries.

A Lotus was quickest in Elf GT Production Class C, though it wasn’t the fancied entry featuring ex-F1 star Christian Klien. Instead, Adam Gowans’ Lotus Exige S who topped the class order- placing 12th outright in the process.

The Production Car battle was topped by the West Australian Subaru WRX STi of Dean Herridge, John O’Dowd and Angus Kennard, but it was a close run thing. The Subaru was just two-tenths quicker than local entry GWS Motorsport and their BMW 335i turbo.

The Racer Industries HSV Astra VXR driven by rising stars Scott Pye, Elliot Barbour, Chris Pither and car owner Ryan McLeod topped STP Production (Performance) Class E, whilst the Sennheiser / Ric Shaw Racing Mazda RX-7 topped the Invitational class.

Tomorrow will feature qualifying for the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour, split between a 90-minute session in the morning and a 30-minute session late in the afternoon.

TOP TIMES – PRACTICE (Combined)

1. A.Simonsen / D.Farnbacher / Bowe / Edwards Ferrari 458 Italia 2:08.2824*

2. C.Lowndes / W.Luff / M.Eddy Audi R8 LMS 2:08.6474

3. R.Lago / D.Russell / W.Park Lamborghini LP 600 2:09.1738

4. T.Huglin / C.McConville / P.Kox / L.Searle Lamborghini Gallardo 2:09.8607

5. M.Sun / C.Baird / M.Griffin Ferrari 458 GT3 2:10.4365

6. C.Mies / D.O’Young / C.Joens Audi R8 LMS 2:10.6742

7. T.Slade / J.Bleekemolen / B.Curtis Mercedes Benz SLS AMG 2:12.2469

8. M.Patterson / A.Li / F.Yu Audi R8 LMS 2:16.4933

9. N.Tinkler / S.Johnson / S.Richards Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 2:17.9934

10. R.Wilson / S.Breslin / V.Mehta / S.Breslin Mercedes Benz SLS AMG 2:19.2253

http://www.bathurst12hour.com.au/fer...i-in-practice/