Whincup tops Bathurst 12 Hour Practice 5

PRO-AM cars pipped the Pro-class machinery in the opening Saturday practice running at the Repco Bathurst 12 Hour.

Jamie Whincup set the fastest time of the morning aboard the #88 Triple Eight Mercedes-AMG that he will share with Jordan Love and Prince Jefri Ibrahim, while the #911 The Bend Manthey EMA Porsche finished second-best with Harry King aboard.

However, it’ll be the seven-time Supercars champ’s final laps of the day, with Love and Ibrahim getting qualifying duties aboard Triple Eight’s Pro-Am entry.

SPOTTER GUIDE: Photos of every car in the 2024 Bathurst 12 Hour

“I’m not qualifying the car so, in a way, that was my qualifying session!” Whincup joked.

“There’s a bit of etiquette out there that you don’t flash people (with the headlights) in practice because there’s no need, but I got a good run over the top, it was my last lap of the day, and I had a teammate (Broc Feeney) in front of me. I was flashing him; ‘get out of my way!’”

The session featured the first red flag of the weekend when Jessie Bryan bogged the GT4-class #25 McLaren at Hell Corner.

Bryan, who will share the car with Supercars star Chaz Mostert, had a lucky escape at the 23-minute mark when he spun to the inside of the track and launched over the grass at the apex of the corner, narrowly missing the pit wall, before ending up in the gravel on the outside of the corner.

The McLaren was undamaged and Bryan returned to the pits under his own power via the Mountain Straight gate entrance, and rejoined when the session resumed.

The red flag had a flow-on impact for the #46 WRT BMW. Maxime Martin passed a car on the way back to the pits when the red flags flew, drawing a penalty that left him parked in pit lane for 10 minutes. The car ended the session 13^th fastest.

Another car that had a 10-minute wait was the #19 GT4-class Mercedes-AMG. It missed the early stages of the session as a penalty for passing the chequered flag multiple times in Practice 4 following a radio failure.

The field will next be on track at 10am AEDT for the final hour of practice prior to qualifying.

RESULTS: Practice 5, 2024 Bathurst 12 Hour (60min)