Audi tops qualifying as big names fall at Bathurst

Audi continued its strong showing by topping qualifying for the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour as several big names missed the Top 10 Shootout at Mount Panorama.

Kelvin van der Linde once again impressed as he lit up the timing screens to post a 2:02.34s to claim provisional pole in the #22 Audi he shares with Garth Tander and Frederic Vervisch.

The South African was pushed hard by the #43 Schnitzer BMW, which ended up 0.02s adrift thanks to a late lap from Chaz Mostert.

It proved to be a tight session with a second covering the top 14 runners with only 10 cars going through to the final shootout later this afternoon.

BMW also occupied third after following Philipp Eng’s effort that was just 0.1 slower than the leading Audi.

Meanwhile, McLaren showed signs of pace as both YNA Autosport entries secured a berth in the top 10.

Scott McLaughlin fired the Pro-Am #47 car into fourth, while Shane van Gisbergen was sixth in the #58 car he occupies with Craig Lowndes and Come Ledogar.

The McLarens sandwiched the Competition Motorsports Porsche piloted by factory ace Matt Campbell.

Christopher Haase put the #74 Audi into seventh while Robin Frijns was eighth in the WRT R8 GT3.

Supercars co-driver Luke Youlden hauled the Buik Motorworks Lamborghini into ninth, with the final shootout spot taken by the #17 Bentley, driven by Steven Kane.

The session saw some big names fail to make the Top 10 Shootout, including both factory Porsches and the Jamie Whincup led SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes AMG-GT3.

Manthey-Racing’s star studded line up of Ferederic Makowiecki, Romain Dumas and Dirk Werner ended Qualifying 2 bottom of the the time sheets.

The Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche of two-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Earl Bamber, Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre will also be absent from the shootout.

Seven-time Supercars champion Whincup could only set the 16th fastest time in the session, although the car will start from 16th position.

“We weren’t quick enough at the end of the day,” said Whincup.

“The car feels good. I didn’t do Q1 so I just jumped in for Q2, so I only sort of got a limited time.

“I went a second quicker than practice, which was a good chunk, but I think (with) another set of tyres (and) another run I would have found another chunk again, so we’re in the mid-pack, which is not ideal to start the race.

“But that’s the way it is, we’ll tune it up, and see if we can go quicker.”

Running was interrupted when Lee Holdsworth suffered a heavy crash in the #9 Audi Sport Customer Racing Australia R8 GT3.

The Preston Hire Racing Supercars driver lost control of the car on the exit kerb which fired the Audi hard into the outside wall nose first, before spinning and damaging the rear.

Holdsworth clambered out of the car which has sustained significant damage and will require lengthy repair.

“I committed to the throttle too early. These things don’t like kerbs,” said Holdsworth, who will start 20th if the car makes the grid tomorrow.

“I hit the kerb and it snapped real quick. It was all out of my control after that.

“Hopefully we can get it back on the track tomorrow. Just hard trying to find the limit in these cars.

“You got a bit faster and you think there’s more in it so you go another step. This is a track that is unforgiving when you actually find the limit.”

The #6 Safe-T-Stop Lamborghini failed to log a time in the session.

Objective Racing also elected not to set a time in the session but did appear in Qualifying 1.

The remainder of the grid was determined on the best lap times set in either Qualifying 1 (45 mins) or Qualifying 2 (30 mins).

The earlier Qualifying 1 hit out set the grid for the all the classes except GT3.

Grove Racing comfortably took the Class B pole courtesy of a 2:08.07s from British driver Ben Barker, who was more than a second faster than the Team Carrera Cup Asia Porsche of Andrew Tang, Chris van der Drift and Paul Tresidder.

The Class C pole position was secured by the Boatworks BMW M4 GT4 of Aaron Seton, Matt Brabham and Tony Longhurst, while the #91 MARC Cras entry claimed the top spot in the Invitational Class.

Qualifying 1 was briefly halted when the #46 Prosport Porsche Cayman stopped on the exit of The Cutting.

The Top 10 Shootout, which will determine the Allan Simonsen Trophy winner, is scheduled for 1610 local time/AEDT.

Results: Qualifying, combined

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