Bathurst 12 Hour: Brown fastest in Practice 4, Habul tops Bronze session

Friday action concluded at the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour at Mount Panorama Circuit, with strong pace and a few small incidents during the final two practice sessions.

Practice 3

Will Brown was the fastest driver in Practice 3. He became the first driver of the weekend to set a lap under 2:04.

Driving the #55 Melbourne Performance Centre Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, Brown set a best time of 2:03.899 during the 40-minute session. He was 0.250 seconds quicker than Laurin Heinrich in the #61 EBM Porsche 911 GT3 R.

The #888 Team GMR Mercedes-AMG GT3 was third quickest in the session. Raffaele Marciello followed in fourth in the #46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO, while Thomas Randle finished fifth in the #222 Scott Taylor Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

Team KRC BMW, entered in the Bronze class, was sixth fastest, just ahead of the #32 WRT BMW in seventh. The #268 Team BRM Audi finished eighth overall and was the quickest Pro-Am entry. The #911 Absolute Racing Porsche and the #101 Q/Team MPC Audi followed closely behind.

There were also two spins during the session. Anders Fjordbach spun at the top of the mountain but did not hit the wall. Fabian Schiller also spun his Mercedes-AMG GT3 but avoided any damage. Overall, Practice 3 was competitive and mostly clean.

Practice 4

Free Practice 4, which was again for Bronze-rated drivers only, ended earlier than planned. Kenny Habul was the fastest driver in the session. He set a 2:04.9062 lap in the #75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

Brad Schumacher finished second in the #55 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, 0.6037 seconds behind Habul, while Garth Walden was third in the #455 Mercedes-AMG GT3 with a time of 2:05.9758.

The session was stopped after an incident involving the #7 Team NZ Aston Martin Vantage GT4. Graeme Dowsett made contact with the #21 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Alfred Renauer, hitting the barriers. Due to the damage to the safety barriers, race control decided not to restart the session.

Qualifying ahead

Track action continues on Saturday with two final one-hour practice sessions at 08:05 and 10:05 local time, as teams make their last adjustments around Mount Panorama.

Qualifying follows from 13:05 to 14:20, deciding the top ten that progress to the Pirelli Pole Battle at 16:15. In the 15-minute shootout, drivers go one by one in the fight for pole on the Mountain.

Follow the 2026 Bathurst 12 Hour on GT REPORT: Entry list, schedule, latest news, photos, and everything else you need to know.

📺 Live stream | Watch Live

🎙️ Interviews | Tony D’Alberto confident after top-six qualifying for Bathurst 12 Hour | Cameron Waters after Bathurst 12 Hour pole | Bas Leinders recalls McLaren’s defining 2016 Bathurst victory | Alex Fontana on the mental challenge of Bathurst | Marco Mapelli prepares for Huracán’s final farewell at Bathurst | Bathurst king Jules Gounon and the art of going fast at Mount Panorama