2011 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour

The race and Class A-winning Audi R8 GT3 LMS of Darryl O'Young, Marc Basseng and Christopher Mies.

The 2011 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour was an endurance race for FIA GT3 cars, Australian GT Championship cars, Group 3E Series Production Cars and other invited vehicles.^[1] The event, which was staged at the Mount Panorama Circuit, Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia on 6 February 2011, was the ninth running of the Bathurst 12 Hour, and the fifth since the race was revived in 2007.

The race saw GT cars return to long distance racing at Mount Panorama for the first time since the 2003 Bathurst 24 Hour. The addition of the faster GT3 entries saw the leading cars smash the previous distance record by 29 laps. Unfortunately it also saw many of the Class D and E cars not compete due to being reduced from outright contenders in previous races to class contenders for 2011. One of the reason's for including the GT cars was an attempt to not only increase manufacturer involvement in the race but to also raise the international profile of the event and attract the top FIA GT3 teams.

The race was won by Audi's official factory supported team Audi Sport which was run by Audi's Le Mans 24 Hour team, Joest Racing, under the banners of "Audi Australia" for car #7 and "Audi Top Service" for car #8. Running a pair of Audi R8 LMS GT3s, the team of Marc Basseng, Christopher Mies and Darryl O'Young (#8) lead home team mates Mark Eddy, Craig Lowndes and Warren Luff (#7) in a 1-2 finish, the cars crossing the line only 0.7141 seconds apart in a true racing finish. Lowndes fastest race lap of 2:09.0861 also set a new GT lap record for Mt Panorama, cutting a second from the time of 2:10.0277 set 16 months earlier by Tony Quinn driving an Aston Martin DBRS9. Lowndes time was came within 0.6210 of his Team Vodafone team mate Jamie Whincup's outright lap record of 2:08.4651 set in a Ford BF Falcon V8 Supercar in 2007. The Joest Racing R8's finished one lap in front of the VIP Pet Foods Racing Porsche 997 GT3 Cup R of Craig Baird and father and son pairing Tony and Klark Quinn.

The race was run under international endurance rules meaning that all cars compulsory pit stops were each to be no less than 90 seconds in duration. The Class A cars had to make 12 compulsory stops with no less than 10 laps between each stop while Class B cars only had to make 9 compulsory stops.

Class structure

Cars competed in the following classes:^[1]

• Class A – FIA GT3, Australian GT Championship
• Class B – Australian GT Challenge
• Class C – Australian GT Production
• Class D – Production (High Performance All Wheel Drive)
• Class E – Production (High Performance Rear Wheel Drive)
• Class F – Production (Performance)

For the race thin entries saw Classes D and E merged into Class D and Class F became the new Class E. There were several other classes listed in the regulations that attracted no entries.

Official Results

Those in Bold represent class winners. Fastest Laps in Italics represent the class fastest lap.^[2]

Pos	Class	No	Team / Entrant	Drivers	Car	Laps	Race Time	Fastest Lap
					Engine
1	A	8	Audi Top Service	Darryl O'Young Marc Basseng Christopher Mies	Audi R8 LMS GT3	292	12:01:30.7045	2:10.2017
					5.2 L FSI 2×DOHC V10
2	A	7	Audi Australia	Mark Eddy Craig Lowndes Warren Luff	Audi R8 LMS GT3	292	12:01:31.4186	2:09.0861
					5.2 L FSI 2×DOHC V10
3	A	29	VIP Pet Foods Racing	Tony Quinn Klark Quinn Craig Baird	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup R	291	12:03:07.7427	2:11.3079
					4.0 L Porsche H6
4	A	38	Wilson Security - Shannons	David Wall Greg Crick Barton Mawer	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S	289	12:01:59.0682	2:12.7634
					3.8 L Porsche H6
5	B	23	Falcon Property Group	Roger Lago Matt Kingsley David Russell	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	282	12:02:38.5294	2:14.4387
					3.8 L Porsche H6
6	A	37	Red Alert Laser Tag	Hector Lester Luke Searle Allan Simonsen	Ferrari 430 GT3	276	12:02:50.0944	2:12.3556
					4.3 L Ferrari V8
7	B	66	Motorsport Services Limited	Scott O'Donnell Simon McLennan Miroslav Konopka	Porsche 996 GT3 Cup	264	12:01:46.1710	2:22.2708
					3.8 L Porsche H6
8	B	67	Motorsport Services Limited	Allan Dippie Steven Thompson Mark Maddren	Porsche 996 GT3 Cup	257	12:03:21.1949	2:25.4937
					3.8 L Porsche H6
9	D	14	RSH Electrical/DrivingSolution	Peter Conroy Anthony Robson Mark Brame	Mitsubishi Lancer RS Evo X	256	12:01:45.2597	2:32.3415
					2.0 L 4B11T I4
10	D	28	GWS Personnel	Peter O'Donnell Matthew Hansen Christian D'Agostin	BMW 335i	252	12:03:38.8181	2:31.4950
					3.0 L twin-turbo I6 N54
11	C	80	Bruce Lynton BMW	Beric Lynton Matt Mackelden John Modystach	BMW M3	245	12:03:34.1061	2:31.4314
					3.2 L BMW S54 I6
12	E	26	GWS Personnel	Bruce Tomlinson Geoff Fontaine Richard Gartner	BMW 130i	244	12:03:32.3214	2:40.8912
					3.0 L BMW N55 I6
13	D	5	Tinkler Motor Sports	Nathan Tinkler Jeremy Gray Steven Johnson	FPV FG GT	238	12:02:37.1787	2:40.6970
					5.4 L Boss 315 V8
14	E	68	Motorsport Services Limited	David Glasson Dennis Roderick Aaron Harris	BMW 130i	235	12:02:53.3888	2:41.8986
					3.0 L BMW N55 I6
15	B	39	Bakehouse Quarter-McGrath-Middleton	Paul Tressider Shane Smollen Simon Middleton	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	230	12:03:40.8699	2:18.6995
					3.8 L Porsche H6
16	E	50	Racer Industries	Chaz Mostert Ashley Walsh Gerard McLeod	HSV VXR Turbo	227	12:03:55.8888	2:37.0462
					2.2 L Ecotec I4
17	C	25	Paul Freestone	Paul Freestone Hayden Pullen David Sieders	Chevrolet Corvette Z06	192	12:02:24.0342	2:19.6556
					7.0 L LS7 V8
18	C	62	Eagle 1	Adam Gowans Richard Meins Chris Lillingston-Price	Lotus Exige S	192	12:02:32.2864	2:24.9244
					1.8 L supercharged Toyota I4
19	D	3	Maximum Motorsport	Dean Herridge John O'Dowd Angus Kennard	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	129	12:01:41.2740	2:31.3951
					2.5 L Subaru H4
DNF	A	69	Supabarn Supermarkets	James Koundouris Theo Koundouris Steve Owen	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S	261	11:27:28.9388	2:10.6884
					3.8 L Porsche H6
DNF	A	12	Hallmarc	Marc Cini David Reynolds Dean Fiore	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S	196	08:53:25.0075	2:10.9530
					3.8 L Porsche H6
DNF	D	43	Alan East Motorsport	Leigh Burges Damien Flack Neil McFadyen	Mitsubishi Lancer RS Evo IX	165	07:45:42.9671	2:32.2315
					2.0 L 4B11T I4
DNF	A	17	Maranello Motorsport	Peter Edwards John Bowe Tim Leahey	Ferrari 430 GT3	161	07:14:57.9304	2:13.9841
					4.3 L Ferrari V8
DNF	E	27	GWS Personnel	Garth Duffy Alan Shepherd Paul Stubber	BMW 130i	106	05:45:20.2294	2:39.8422
					3.0 L BMW N55 I6
DNF	C	44	Donut King Racing	Tony Alford Peter Leemhuis Mal Rose	Nissan R35 GT-R	102	06:48:41.1208	2:26.1198
					3.8 L Twin-turbo VR38DETT V6
DNF	A	2	Procon Developments	Geoff Emery Dean Grant Max Twigg	Mosler MT900 GT3	11	00:30:26.5023	2:16.1376
					7.0 L LS7 V8

Statistics

• Pole Position - #7 Mark Eddy, Craig Lowndes, Warren Luff
• Fastest Lap - #7 Craig Lowndes - 2:09.0861 (GT lap record) on lap 267

* Grid positions were taken on the lap average of the fastest times set by all drivers in a car, e.g Steve Owen set the fastest time of all cars with a GT qualifying record of 2:09.1015 in his Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S but the times of co-drivers James and Theo Koundouris averaged out to start the car 3rd behind the two Joest Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3's. Warren Luff had the overall 2nd fastest qualifying time in his Audi R8 (2:09.6360) but the times of co-drivers Mark Eddy and Craig Lowndes saw the #7 car start from pole position.

* Craig Lowndes fastest race lap in the #7 Audi, set on lap 267 of 292 when the car had already covered 1,652km, was not only a new GT lap record for the Mt Panorama Circuit but undercut the Owen's qualifying record by 0.0154 seconds.

References

External links

• Official website