RED flags once again blighted the final practice ahead of qualifying for the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour.
Initially scheduled for 45 minutes, the session was extended to first 50, then 55 minutes after two separate red flag periods.
The second was the most serious, rising open-wheel racer Zane Goddard crashing the No. 94 MARC Mazda at Reid Park.
The car was badly damaged in the impact, although Goddard himself appeared to escape unscathed.
“That’s a big lick up there, those concrete walls are hard,” team manager Ryan McLeod told Radio Le Mans.
“I’m sure we could repair it but we have to evaluate the safety of it. If we don’t think it’s safe, we do have a spare car so we’d look at trying to run that.
“There’s a great crew of young blokes in there. He came here to get some more experience; he just got some.”
Audi and BMW once again led the way, Christopher Haase putting the No. 74 Jamec-Pem Audi on top with a 2m03.0618s late in the session, heading the team’s other car by almost four tenths of a second.
The No. 43 Schnitzer Team BMW was next in third, just ahead of the Australian No. 100 SRM Team BMW car, with the No. 82 International Motorsport Audi rounding out the top five, repaired overnight after a crash at Skyline on Friday.
Reigning Supercars champion Jamie Whincup ended the session sixth fastest, finding clear track to put in a time 1.25s shy of the top spot aboard the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes.
His usual Supercars teammates Shane van Gisbergen and Craig Lowndes had a less enjoyable morning.
The No. 58 YNA Autosport McLaren they will share with Come Ledogar spent all but the first 10 minutes of the session parked in the garage with a throttle sensor problem, ending the session outside the top 30.
Traffic again reared its head as an issue during the session, Stuart Leonard looping the No. 37 WRT Audi at Murray’s Corner after a misunderstanding with the No. 82 Audi, while Bentley’s Steven Kane was almost squeezed into the wall on the run up to the Cutting by a Class B Porsche.
“He mustn’t have seen me and he kept on coming. I think he hit me twice,” Kane told Radio Le Mans.
“It’s tough passing the different speed cars but we just need to try and get through the weekend and be a bit more vigilant.”
The cars will next hit the track for qualifying at 11:05am AEDT.
