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.Supplementary Regulations Retrieved from www.bathurst12hour.com.au on 7 February 2011 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 break the previous distance record by 29 laps. It also saw many potential Class D and E entries 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 teammates 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 came within 0.6210 of his Triple Eight Race Engineering teammate 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:2011 Entry List – 12 Hr, www.bathurst12hour.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org Class A – GT3 Outright Class B – GT3 Class C – GT4 Class D – High Performance Class E – Production Performance

Official results Those in Bold represent class winners. Fastest Laps in Italics represent the class fastest lap.2011 Bathurst 12 Hour Official Results Pos Class No Team / Entrant Drivers Car Laps Time/Retired Engine 1 A 8 Audi Race Experience Team Joest Darryl O'Young Marc Basseng Christopher Mies Audi R8 LMS GT3 292 12:01:30.7045 5.2 L FSI 2×DOHC V10 2 A 7 Audi Race Experience Team Joest Mark Eddy Craig Lowndes Warren Luff Audi R8 LMS GT3 292 +0.7141 5.2 L FSI 2×DOHC V10 3 A 29 VIP Holdings (Aust) Pty Ltd Tony Quinn Klark Quinn Craig Baird Porsche 997 GT3 Cup R 291 +1 Lap 4.0 L Porsche H6 4 A 38 Wall Racing David Wall Greg Crick Barton Mawer Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S 289 +3 laps 3.8 L Porsche H6 5 B 23 Lago Racing Roger Lago Matt Kingsley David Russell Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 282 +10 laps 3.8 L Porsche H6 6 A 37 Rosso Verde Ireland Hector Lester Luke Searle Allan Simonsen Ferrari 430 GT3 276+16 laps 4.3 L Ferrari V8 7 B 66 Motorsport Services Scott O'Donnell Simon McLennan Miroslav Konôpka Porsche 996 GT3 Cup 264 +28 laps 3.8 L Porsche H6 8 B 67 Motorsport Services Allan Dippie Steven Thompson Mark Maddren Porsche 996 GT3 Cup 257 +35 laps 3.8 L Porsche H6 9 D 14 Peter Conroy Motorsport Peter Conroy Anthony Robson Mark Brame Mitsubishi Lancer RS Evo X 256 +36 laps 2.0 L 4B11T I4 10 D 28 GWS Personnel Motorsport Peter O'Donnell Matthew Hansen Christian D'Agostin BMW 335i 252 +40 laps 3.0 L twin-turbo I6 N54 11 E 26 GWS Personnel Motorsport Bruce Tomlinson Geoff Fontaine Richard Gartner BMW 130i 244 +48 laps 3.0 L BMW N55 I6 12 C 80 Bruce Lynton BMW Beric Lynton Matt Mackelden John Modystach BMW M3 242 * +50 laps 3.2 L BMW S54 I6 13 D 5 Tinkler Motor Sports Nathan Tinkler Jeremy Gray Steven Johnson FPV FG GT 238 +54 laps 5.4 L Boss 315 V8 14 E 68 Motorsport Services David Glasson Dennis Roderick Aaron Harris BMW 130i 235 +57 laps 3.0 L BMW N55 I6 15 B 39 Wall Racing Paul Tresidder Shane Smollen Simon Middleton Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 230 +62 laps 3.8 L Porsche H6 16 E 50 Racer Industries Chaz Mostert Ashley Walsh Gerard McLeod HSV VXR Turbo 227 +65 laps 2.2 L Ecotec I4 17 C 25 Paul Freestone Racing Paul Freestone Hayden Pullen David Sieders Chevrolet Corvette Z06 192 +100 laps 7.0 L LS7 V8 18 C 62 Lee Knappett Racing Adam Gowans Richard Meins Chris Lillingston-Price Lotus Exige S 192 +100 laps 1.8 L supercharged Toyota I4 19 D 3 Maximum Motorsport Dean Herridge John O'Dowd Angus Kennard Subaru Impreza WRX STi 129 +163 laps 2.5 L Subaru H4 DNF A 69 Supabarn Supermarkets Racing James Koundouris Theo Koundouris Steve Owen Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S 261 Driveline 3.8 L Porsche H6 DNF A 12 Hallmarc Racing Marc Cini David Reynolds Dean Fiore Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S 196 Accident 3.8 L Porsche H6 DNF D 43 Alan East Motorsport Leigh Burges Damien Flack Neil McFadyen Mitsubishi Lancer GSR Evo IX 165 Turbo 2.0 L 4G63T I4 DNF A 17 Maranello Motorsport Peter Edwards John Bowe Tim Leahey Ferrari 430 GT3 161 Engine 4.3 L Ferrari V8 DNF E 27 GWS Personnel Motorsport Garth Duffy Alan Shepherd Paul Stubber BMW 130i 106 Spun off 3.0 L BMW N55 I6 DNF C 44 Donut King Racing Tony Alford Peter Leemhuis Mal Rose Nissan R35 GT-R 102 Gearbox/Accident 3.8 L Twin-turbo VR38DETT V6 DNF A 2 Procon Developments Geoff Emery Dean Grant Max Twigg Mosler MT900 GT3 11 Accident 7.0 L LS7 V8

* The 242 laps for 12th placed Car No. 80 includes a 3-lap penaltySteve Normoyle, Planting the seed, The History of the Bathurst 12 Hour, pages 70 - 75

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 Owen's qualifying record by 0.0154 seconds.

References

External links Official website Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour 2011 12 - Hour Category Further Supplementary Regulations 1, www.bathurst12hour.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org Results, www.natsoft.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org