News
Late flyer puts Carr / Slade on top in first 6-hour session
A LAST-LAP flyer has seen the Brad Carr / Tim Slade BMW entry top former winner Tim Leahey in the closing stages of the first practice session for the 2022 Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour.
With Slade behind the wheel, the #8 entry took advantage of clear track in a 10-minute green flag period towards the end of the 60-minute session to post a 2m27.24s flyer to elevate the Car Mods Australia BMW to the top of the charts.
RESULTS: Practice 1
That relegated the 2019 winners, Tim Leahey, Beric Lynton and new co-driver Will Davison to second thanks to Leahey’s 2m28.03s best.
Davison is yet to drive the #23 car which enters the weekend as one of several favoured contenders in a wide-open field.
BMWs filled the top seven positions and nine of the top-10 in practice, with an impressive performance from the brand-new BMW M2 driven by Cameron Hill and Thomas Sargent placing them third.
Karl Begg did the time that put his BMW M4 fourth overall – he will share his car with David Russell and Nash Morris – while the Wayne, Drew and Aaren Russell M4 was fifth.
Another family-crewed team, the Ellery family combination, were next ahead of the Anthony Soole, Adam Burgess and Anton de Pasquale BMW – the latter banking the time that placed them seventh at the end of the session.
With Class X BMWs locking out the top seven spots, Will Brown led the way in Class A1 aboard the Mercedes A45 AMG he’ll share with Rod Salmon and Mark Griffith, finishing the session in eighth.
The Simon Hodges / Jayden Ojeda BMW M4 was ninth, while the defending race winners completed the top 10.
Shane Smollen and Rob Rubis did the driving in practice one, with Nick Percat set to get his first laps later today.
Class A2 was headed by the Kearns / Cowham Ford Mustang in 11th, fractions ahead of the McLeod / McLeod / Cameron Ford in 12th and second in class.
Tony Quinn and Grant Denyer were third in A2 and 20th overall.
Mark Mallard topped Class B aboard the Holden Commodore SS he’ll share with Matt Forbes-Wilson, while the Mazda 3 MPS of Jake Camilleri and Scott Nicholas topped the Class C battle, in 33rd outright.
Best of the Class D runners was the BPRO Toyota 86 of Brett Parrish, Mitchell Wooller and Jay Robotham in 41st outright, while Andrew McMaster and Dave Worrell topped Class E in their Mazda 3 SP25 in 57th.
All 67 cars took to the track, with only the #16 Mercedes C63 AMG of Tony Levitt and Jason Symes failing to complete a representative lap time.
The session ran green for most of its duration, with only one brief red flag to recover a stranded car at the top of mount panorama interrupting the session.
Practice two is scheduled for 4:35pm AEST.