TWO MINUTE BARRIER BROKEN AT MT PANORAMA
Christopher Mies’s sub 2 minute lap of Mount Panorama – Photo: InSyde Media
THE TWO MINUTE barrier was broken at Challenge Bathurst on Friday November 16 when German ace Christopher Mies pushed an Audi R8 Ultra around Mt Panorama in 1minute 59.291 seconds.
The time counted as a new lap record as Mies was completing in a CAMS-sanctioned event. Audi Sport Customer Racing Australia chief Troy Russell predicted that the lap was on. “There was no way we could have done that sort of time on Thursday due to the traffic.
“But for the final session today (Friday) we will take some of the weight out, removed the restrictors, make some other changes and give it a crack.”
The second day sessions worked better as well with groups redefined for closer lap time matches. Mies used the Audi that Geoff Emery claimed his second Australian GT Championship in. It was shared with Garth Tander who had less than half the time in the car and was second fastest with a 2mins 0.331s lap.
It is believed that the Jim Manolios Lamborghini Huracan went out in the last session without restrictors and returned a 2mins 4.948s with Dean Canto at the wheel.
Over 130 took part in the two days of the Sprint portion of the event before two days of Regularity. In total over 400 cars were competing.
Yasser Shahin, Craig Baird and Tony D’Alberto shared a Mercedes Benz AMG GT for fourth fastest overall, ahead of Adrain Dietz (Huracan), Tony Walls (McLaren 650S), and Dimitri and Theo Koundouris in an Audi.
Formula 4’s Ryan Suhle did the tenth fastest time in the McElrea Racing Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge car that Jimmy Vernon raced this year. Next best was David Stevens in a Porsche 911 Cup ahead of Darren Barlow in his 1.0-litre Stohr WF-1, Manilos and Vince Muriti (Audi).
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