Bathurst 12 Hour: Audi one-two in final practice

An early red flag thanks to a stranded Dodge Viper at The Cutting meant times hung around the mid-2m04s mark until the midway point of the session, when Philipp Eng dropped into the low 4s with a 2m04.180s in the #100 SRM BMW.

That was immediately replaced at the top of the sheets by the first 3s lap of the session, Haase jumping to the top with a 2m03.733s in the #74 Jamec Pem Audi.

It didn't take long for the next change, van der Linde going fastest in the #22 sister car with a 2m03.449 right before MARC driver Zane Goddard hit the wall on the way out of The Cutting and sparked a second stoppage.

But it was Haase who had the last laugh, pumping out the fastest time of the weekend so far with a 2m03.061s with three minutes to go to secure top spot.

Behind the leading Audis there was a pair of BMWs, DTM star Marco Wittmann jumping 11 spots with eight minutes to go to put the #43 Schnitzer entry third with a 2m03.901s.

That bumped the #100 car, with that earlier time set by Eng, back to fourth.

Best of the Pro-Am cars was #82 International Audi of Andrew Bagnall/Matt Halliday/Jonny Reid in fifth, while Jamie Whincup made late gains to put the SunEnergy1 Mercedes into sixth.

Bentley enjoyed its best showing of the weekend so far with the #17 Continental (Steven Kane/Guy Smith/Jules Gounon) in seventh, ahead of the all-Am Audi of Ash Samadi, Dan Gaunt, and Ash Walsh.

The #23 Carrera Cup Asia Porsche continued its stranglehold on Class B, while the #44 SRM BMW was best of the GT4 entries.

In the Invitational class the #91 MARC II led the way, Will Brown's 2m07.124s good enough for 21st outright, amongst the back end of the GT3 cars.