Halfway: Brock Monaro leads

Brock and his co-drivers Greg Murphy, Todd Kelly and Jason Bright held a slender lead of just about a minute a 2am. They have not had it easy so far, swapping the lead from the off with the similar car of Cameron McConville/Garth Tander/Nathan Pretty/Steven Richards.

"We need to make sure we don't wear the car out," said Kelly. "We must leave something in reserve in case we need to push at the end."

The race has been punctuated by heavy showers that have also affected another sporting event in New South Wales today. Regular - and lengthy - safety car intervals have helped the leaders stay bunched.

The Ferrari 360 Modena driven by David Brabham/Andrea Montermini/Philip Peter/Klaus Engelhorn was thus three laps behind in third after twelve hours.

"The Ferrari is a great little car to drive," said Brabham. "But we don't have the outright speed of the Holdens. This is a very long race though, and anything can happen."

The Ferrari is three laps clear of a close Porsche battle that rounds out the top six.

Both the Morgan Aero 8 entry (blown engine) and that of Aussie favourite John Bowe (crashed by his co-driver) are out of the event.