News
Davison flies to quickest time of weekend to top final practice
WILL DAVISON has set the benchmark for teams to chase in qualifying, flying to the top of the charts in the final practice session for the Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 hour this morning at Mount Panorama.
Davison punched out a 2m26.477s flyer with 10 minutes remaining in the 40-minute session to put the #23 BMW M3 he’ll share with former winners Beric Lynton and Tim Leahey to the top of the pops – with the quickest time of the event so far.
Cool, blustery and overcast conditions were the order of the session though the circuit had dried from earlier rain on Saturday morning.
Davison’s lap was the quickest of the event so far as teams and drivers now turn their attention to qualifying later this afternoon.
BMWs were first and second with the Wayne, Drew and Aaren Russell BMW M4 second overall thanks to a lap from Drew of 2m27.708s.
A late flyer from Iain Sherrin lifted their BMW M4 to third position after the chequered flag.
The George Miedecke, Marcos Ambrose and Tim Brook Ford Mustang GT was fourth outright and first in the A1 class thanks to a 2m29.389s best from the latter of the trio late in the session.
They displaced the RAM Motorsport / GWR Mercedes A45 AMG for best in class, Dylan O’Keeffe putting that car fifth outright and first in the A1 class, just 0.08s behind the Mustang.
An impressive effort from Queenslander Ryan Casha put the #221 Ford Mustang GT he’ll share with Rylan Gray and Chris Delfsma sixth outright and second in Class A2, while the Michael Auld / Garth Walden / Tyler Everingham BMW M3 was seventh outright.
Cameron Crick was eighth in the #118 Mitsubishi he’ll share with Dean Campbell while the Ben Kavich / Michael Kavich / Thomas Randle BMW M2 Competition was ninth.
The top-10 was completed by the Aaron McGill / John Bowe Ranger Ford Falcon GT-F with their strongest session of the weekend.
Class B1 was headed by Supercars racer Matt Chahda aboard the venerable BMW 335i Turbo he’ll share with Garry Mennell and Matt Harris, the former 12-hour winning car a competitive 15th outright.
Cody McKay topped B2 in his Holden Commodore, placing his car shared with Brent Edwards and Bradley McDonald 30th outright.
The Nicholas McLeod / Brock Giblin HSV Astra topped the class C runners, the first time this weekend that the category had not been paced by the dominant Jake Camilleri / Scott Nicholas Mazda 3 – they were second.
Scott Aho and Haydn Clark once again topped the competitive Class D battle in their Subaru BRZ, ahead of the Jason Walsh / Alan Letcher / Nicholas Agar Honda Integra.
The #35 Mazda 3 SP 23 topped Class E, driven by Phil Alexander, Stephen Doorey and Shane Fowler.
The 40-minute session ran with just one red-flag stoppage thanks to a local wildlife – Kangaroo – invasion, with limited other issues recorded.
Attention now turns to qualifying for the Easter enduro, with the field to be split into two based on the combined times from practice.
Qualifying Part 1 commences at 1:35pm and runs for 20 minutes for the bottom 50% of the field and will be broadcast live on Stan Sport.
Qualifying Part 2 commences at 2:15pm for the heavy hitters and will also be shown on 9Gem around Australia.