Motorsport: Audi and Lamborghini set pace ahead of Bathurst 12-hour race

Bathurst lap times for the GT3 cars are more than 3 seconds per lap faster than a V8 Supercar.

Audi and Lamborghini teams set the pace as Mt Panorama lap times dipped into the 2m 04s bracket yesterday, ahead of Sunday's Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour endurance race.

Four 60-minute free practice sessions were completed with Australian David Russell in the Lago Racing Lamborghini Gallardo clocking Friday's fastest lap of 2m 04.23s during the third session.

German team Phoenix Racing with its Audi R8 LMS crewed by Marco Mapelli (Italy), Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) and Markus Winkelhock (Germany) also dipped under 2m 05secs when it topped the second session with a 2m 04.98s effort.

The final afternoon session was headed by the Melbourne Performance Centre Audi R8 LMS of Australians Marco Cini and Mark Eddy and German team-mate Christopher Mies.

There's a fifth 60-minute session at 9.45am (NZT) Saturday before a 60-minute qualifying session starting at 2.55pm. The top 10 cars transfer into a 20-minute shoot-out to determine the first five rows of the grid for Sunday's enduro.

The 12-Hour GT race has attracted arguably the deepest international field for any race at Bathurst since the Group A World Touring Car Championship event in 1987.

One of the strongest Friday performances came from the sole New Zealand entry in the premier GT3 category.

Shipping delays meant the Trass Family Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia only arrived at Bathurst on Thursday night and was given dispensation for late scrutineering checks. The Ferrari was driven to fourth in the opening session by Jono Lester.

The team ranked sixth in the second session while in the final hour former NZ V8 champion John McIntyre turned a 2m 06.22secs lap to be third quickest. The third driver in the Ferrari is shifter kart ace and car racing rookie Graeme Smyth.

The Ferrari of the defending champion Maranello Motorsport team has been sidelined from the race weekend.

With experienced V8 Supercar racer Tony D'Alberto at the wheel, the Ferrari collided with an Aston Martin on the step downhill section approaching Forrest's Elbow in the closing minutes of the opening session. The car sustained heavy front damage and D'Alberto was sent to hospital for precautionary checks.

The Maranello team - with ex-F1 Ferrari driver Mika Salo (Finland) and former Top Gear "Stig'' Ben Collins (GB) on the driver roster -hasn't given up on its campaign and was yesteday afternoon negotiating with the Italian AF Corse team to take over a spare Ferrari that's already at Bathurst.

The race takes place on Sunday with a 5.50am local start time expected to see the first 35 minutes completed before dawn.