Saturday at the Bathurst 12 Hour saw Andrew Shah and TekworkX Motorsport conclude their two day event in the Toyota 86 Series while Ashley Seward Motorsport and Scott Taylor Motorsport completed their final practice and qualifying for tomorrow’s 12 Hour endurance spectacular.
The day commenced at a reasonable hour, compared to tomorrow’s 5:15am green flag, with the 12 Hour field enjoying a full hour of practice from 8am. Interrupted by a couple of red flag periods, STM and ASM were able to successfully work through their practice programme. Craig Lowndes, Geoff Emery and Scott Taylor all getting time in the car as the team held their position as first in class.
Taylor and Emery took charge for the first 50 minutes in practice four as well, with even more red flags hampering their running. Alex Davison got his only laps of the day before qualifying in the final 10 minutes of the session. The team wrapped up an unbeaten practice programme in the Class C timing sheets.
Qualifying was set across two parts, 25 minutes for the bronze drivers and 25 minutes for the pro drivers, the total time of the fastest lap from each session determining the grid. Emery was given the chance to qualify in the bronze session, where he threatened the top 10 and a number of outright cars, only falling at the very end to 13th outright. Crucially though still first in class. Davison was the chosen representative for the pro session, and further solidified the team’s position with first in class. The combined times earning car #222 pole position in Class C and 14th on the grid for tomorrow’s 12 hour.
In the Toyota 86 series, race two kicked off their day in the early afternoon. Shah made a promising start, rising up three spots to 13th on the opening lap before then being shuffled off the track and receiving damage. The circumstances led to a 21st place finish. Jayden Wanzek also suffered misfortune, a run inside the top 15 curtailed by a throttle issue sending him a lap down and to 32nd. Rossi Johnson brought a highlight to the race as he continued his strong weekend form, earning another spot to finish in 11th.
Race three saw a career best result for Johnson, bouncing back from a sluggish start to finish in ninth place. Johnson had dropped to 15th in the opening laps but was able to utilise all of his experience in the category so far to climb back up the order. Also making moves were Shah and Wanzek who gained four and seven places respectively, on their way to 17th and 25th at the chequered flag, despite a technical issue on Wanzek’s #90.
The Toyota 86 Series is done now for the weekend, but tomorrow still brings the 12 Hour set for a start at 5:15am under the cover of darkness.