- Audi sets fastest ever Friday practice lap at Mount Panorama
- Five Audi teams in top 10 at the end of Friday practice
Bathurst, February 2, 2018 – Audi has shown its speed around Mount Panorama, dominating practice and producing the fastest ever Friday lap. Audi driver Frederic Vervisch in the #22 Jamec Pem Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3, recorded a blistering 2:03.13s around the famed circuit just before the final session was stopped early following a multi-vehicle accident.
The result came at the end of a dominant performance by the Audi R8 LMS cars throughout the day, that ultimately saw five of the eight Audi teams finish within the top 10 at the end of the day.
"It's difficult to see the real pace of everyone and the second thing is you have to have a clear lap as well," Vervisch said at the end of the session."Not bad, for a first time for sure better than I expected so it's good to be in front but you want to be there on Sunday.
Two-time winner of the Bathurst 12 hour race, Chrisopher Mies, demonstrated his knowledge of the track, producing a 2:03.6484s to finish the day in third position in the #74 Jamec Pem Racing entry he shares with Christopher Haase and Markus Winkelhock. The German driver won in 2011 and again in 2012 and is also a former Australian GT title holder. He is keen to add a third Bathurst 12 Hour title to his impressive list of motorsport achiements.
The #37 Audi Sport Team WRT car of Robin Frijns, Stuart Leonard and Dries Vanthoor also finished the day strongly with a time of 2:03.7760s making them the fourth fastest.
The teams will be back out on the track again in the morning for final practice before the Top 10 shootout in the afternoon to determine the grid positions for Sunday's race.
1. Valvoline Jamec Pem Racing (Audi R8 LMS)
Kelvin van der Linde/Garth Tander/Fre´de´ric Vervisch
2. BMW M Power (BMW M6 GT3)
C, Mostert/M. Wittman
3. Valvoline Jamec Pem Racing (Audi R8 LMS)
Christopher Haase/Christopher Mies/Markus Winkelhock
4. Audi Sport Team WRT (Audi R8 LMS)
Robin Frijns/Stuart Leonard/Dries Vanthoor
5. Laser Plumbing & Electrical (BMW M6 GT3)
S. Richards/T. Glock
6. JBS Australia (Lamborghini)
D. Russell
7. Hallmarc (Audi R8 LMS)
Marc Cini/Dean Fiore/Lee Holdsworth
8. Bend Motorsport (Lamborghini Gallardo)
Y. Shahin/T.Enge
9. EuroMechanica (Porsche 911 GT3)
E. Bamber
10. ASR (Audi R8 LMS)
Daniel Gaunt/Ash Samadi/NN (NZ/AUS)
– ENDS –
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In 2016, the Audi Group delivered to customers about 1.868 million automobiles of the Audi brand, 3,457 sports cars of the Lamborghini brand and 55,451 motorcycles of the Ducati brand. In the 2016 fiscal year, AUDI AG achieved total revenue of €59.3 billion and an operating profit of €3.1 billion. At present, approximately 88,000 people work for the company all over the world, more than 60,000 of them in Germany. Audi focuses on sustainable products and technologies for the future of mobility.