DRIVERS steered clear of any danger during a drama free but high speed start to the 2024 Bathurst 12 Hour at Mount Panorama.

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A mechanical drama for the #56 Ginetta Australia GT4 and a drive through penalty for the #47 Mercedes of David Russell (for overtaking under safety car conditions) were the biggest talking points in a clean opening 60 minutes of racing.

David Russell behind the wheel of the Supabarn Mercedes-AMG during the opening laps of the race. Picture by Alexander Grant.

Race control declared two laps of racing under safety car to help drivers get temperature into their tyres before the green flag was produced under the cover of Sunday morning darkness.

By the time the first hour had passed the starting 10 top grid remained almost the same.

Pole sitter Sheldon van der Linde continued to lead throughout his opening stint in his #23 Team WRT BMW, with Mikael Grenier keeping himself within a second of the leader at all times in the #888 Triple Eight Racing Mercedes.

Sheldon van der Linde leads the field at the end of the first green flag lap. Picture by Alexander Grant.

Maro Engel (#130 Mercedes) stalked the front running pair a further second behind.

Laurens Vanthoor (#912 Porsche) and Luca Stolz (#75 Mercedes) rounded out an unchanged top five.

The only change to the top 10 was Maxime Martin (#46 BMW) overtaking Kelvin van der Linde (#22) in the early stages for seventh place.

Twenty nine cars took to the starting grid.

The safety car leads the field towards Murray's Corner. Picture by Alexander Grant.

The only car to not make it to the start was the Vantage Racing KTM X-Bow GT2 which couldn't be repaired in time after contacting the wall at Forrest Elbow during practice.

However, the T2 Racing team were able to get the #20 MARC IRC GT repaired in time to take part in the race following a heavy crash at Sulman Park on Saturday.