BMW fires first shot in opening 12 Hour practice

THE TEAM WRT BMW M4 of Augusto Farfus/Sheldon van der Linde/Kelvin van der Linde was the car to beat in the opening practice session of the 2025 Meguiar's Bathurst 12 Hour.

Brazilian Farfus was the only driver to dip into the 2:02s range, setting a 2:02.9000s to give the #32 a three tenths advantage over the rest of the field.

Best of the rest was the two-time 12 Hour-winning entry from SunEnergy1 Racing, with German Luca Stolz setting a 2:03.2140s in the #75 Mercedes he'll share with three-time winner Jules Gounon and Aussie Kenny Habul.

The outright top three was rounded out by the #888 Mercedes-AMG Team GMR entry of Maro Engel/Maxime Martin/Mikael Grenier, who were half a second off the pace at a 2:03.4210s.

Valentino Rossi was also impressive in the sister #46 WRT BMW, setting a 2:03.8320s to jump into fourth in the final minutes of the session.

The first 40-minute practice session of the weekend ran without any interruption, with teams focusing on longer race runs for the morning stint on Sunday.

The first of the class runners was the Bronze class Audi from Hallmarc Racing to be driven by Marc Cini/Lee Holdsworth/Dean Fiore, with Holdsworth's 2:03.9010s good enough for sixth outright.

In seventh was the Pro-Am Audi of Geyer Valmont Racing, with Aussie expat Scott Andrews setting a 2:03.9046s in the car he'll share with Sergio Pires and Marcel Zalloua.

The Wall Racing Lamborghini topped the Silver class in 11th outright on a 2:04.2026s, with Tony D'Alberto set to share the car with Adrian Deitz, Grant Denyer, and Kiwi Brendon Leitch.

The sole Invitational car in the field, the GT2 KTM of David Crampton/Trent Harrison/Glen Wood finished in 19th outright on a 2:07.6120s.

And the top GT4 car in the field was the Team Nineteen Mercedes, with British driver Adam Christodoulou setting a 2:15.8640s in the car he'll share with Mark Griffith and Daniel Bilski.

Practice 2 at Mount Panorama will begin at 10:10am, and is open to Bronze-rated drivers only.