I went out to Bathurst yesterday to watch the support races to the main one.

HOT DRY & WINDY it was but the racing was good; the vees were great and the last race had a bradbury type finish (see video link below).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J-z_C3Ep5U 

I tried uploading my photos but they are too big to get hosted; suffice to say the Porsches and Audis were the top 8 or so cars in the times for the 12 hr.

The audi team was pro; absolutely huge team with their crew set-up all over the track to watch and monitor the cars; the Audi set the qucikest time and is starting from Poll.

Even if Porsche or Audi win the event; VW wins in the end!! (Good ol' VW group)

I know this is a bit late!

Audi finished 1-2 at the Bathurst 12-hour race on 6th Feb. completing a record 292 laps of the 6.4-km, 23-turn Mount Panorama circuit. The #8 Team Joest Audi driven by Darryl O'Young Marc Basseng Christopher Mies crossed the line just a few seconds ahead of the its sister car, the #7, driven by Mark Eddy, Craig Lowndes, and Warren Luff. The Audis, which qualified 1–2, traded the lead throughout the race. The #8 had a one-minute lead, due to pit strategy, but slowed in the final half-hour to let the #7 catch up, as the pair lined up for the photo op finish.

Third went to the #29 VIP Petfoods Porsche GT3 R of Tony Quinn, Klark Quinn, and Craig Baird. The VIP Porsche took the lead during Audi pit stops, but couldn’t match the pace of the R8s to stay in front.

This is the Volkswagen Group's first ever OUTRIGHT win at the Bathurst circuit. It's the first time VW/Audi has raced at Bathurst since the Super Touring AMP 1000 races of 1997-98, when Brad Jones' Audi A4 quattro finished 2nd and 3rd overall those years. It's the first VW/Audi CLASS win since the Chris Heyer-Don Bretland Audi 5+5 won Class B (under 3-litre) in 1983. The only other VW/Audi Class win at Bathurst was back at the Armstrong 500 in 1963, when the VW1200 of Barry Ferguson and Bill Ford won Class A (less than £900). Beetles finished 1-3-4-5-8 in class that year.

2011 was the first year FAI GT cars were admitted into the Bathurst 12 Hour. In order to balance performance with the less-modified production classes, a Compulsory Pit Stop rule was enacted. Class A cars, basically FIA GT3, were required to make twelve 90-seconds stops in the course of the race. The #7 Audi ran afoul of this rule. Shortly after a schedules stop in Hour Nine, the #7 got a puncture and had to pit again. Rules demanded a ten-minute wait between compulsory pit stops, so this second stop was not counted towards the required 12. The #7 Audi had to make an additional stop in the final hour, costing the team the win.

Craig Lowndes, in the #7 Audi, did get the glory for setting a new GT lap record at 2:09:0861, beating the old mark of 2:10:077. This is only fractionally slower than Jamie Whincup's V8 Supercar race lap record of 2:08.465, which shows how fast the Audis were.

In Class B—GT3, the #23 Falcon Property Porsche 997 GT3 Cup of Roger Lago, Matthew Kingsley, and David Russell took the win, finishing fifth overall, completing 282 laps.

Class C—GT4 went to Beric Lynton, Mathew Mackeiden, John Modystach in the #80 Beric Lynton BMW M3, finishing 11th overall with 245 laps.

The #14 RSH Electrical/DrivingSolutions.com Mitsubishi EVO X RS of Peter Conroy, Anthony Robson, and Mark Brame won Class D—High Performance, completing 252 laps to finish 9th.

Finally, Class E—Production Performance went to the #26 G.W.S Personnel BMW 130i of Bruce Thomlinson, Geoff Fontaine, Richard Gartner, which finished 12th, covering 244 laps.