> Result: Practice 3
Kenny Habul dominated Friday’s third practice session at Mount Panorama en route to the fastest time across both of the LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 Hour’s two Bronze-focused sessions.
Last year’s winner lapped his SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG a tenth quicker than Valentino Rossi had managed in FP2 and almost a second faster than anyone else in the same 40-minute session.
The Australian set his 2m05.3096s early in proceedings and continued to circulate, albeit while accruing mileage rather than attempting to better his own time, while others fell someway short of challenging the benchmark.
Sportsbet Team MPC’s Liam Talbot came closest towards the end of the session when he slashed six tenths from his own PB. Nevertheless, that was still 0.9s down on Habul’s effort.
Brad Schumacher had run Rossi – who was one of several Silver drivers to contest FP2 – close in the morning but couldn’t get near his previous best. The FUCHS Lubricants Audi ultimately wound up third and 1.1s down on the leading Mercedes-AMG.
Jefri Ibrahim’s Boost Mobile entry was next up and one place clear of the best of the IGTC Independent Cup entries – the Harrolds Volante Rosso Motorsport Mercedes-AMG – driven by Ross Poulakis.
Friday’s final session, which will feature Pro drivers for the first time since FP1, begins at 16:10 AEDT (GMT +11).