Circuit rookie Nico Bastian and five-time Bathurst 1000 winner Craig Lowndes will share the front-row of the grid for the start of the Bathurst 12 Hour.
The 23-year-old German has been selected to start the #1 Erebus Motorsport Mercedes that Maro Engel sensationally drove to pole position in the third and final qualifying session.
Although nominated as the team’s unseeded driver, Bastian was a podium finisher in the Nuburgring 24 Hours and has adapted well to Mount Panorama.
Bastian’s fastest time of the weekend so far is a 2:06.3s, some 0.5s quicker than that of star team leader Bernd Schneider.
“It was crazy for me because I know the Nurburgring very well but here it’s something special to drive so tight between the walls and be going so quickly next to the walls,” said Bastian of Bathurst.
“That was a challenge for me early in the free practice but now I’m very pleased with my speed.
“I can still improve a lot but I think we have a very good driver line-up and are really looking forward to the race, especially from pole position.”
All teams were required to nominate their starting drivers prior to 1700 today.
See below for the full list of starting drivers
| Car | Competitor/Team | Vehicle | Class | Starting Driver |
| 1 | Erebus Motorsport | Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 | A | Nico Bastian |
| 88 | il Bello Rosso | Ferrari F458 Italia | A | Craig Lowndes |
| 37 | Darrell Lea | McLaren MP4 12C | A | Klark Quinn |
| 63 | Erebus Motorsport | Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 | A | Jack Le Brocq |
| 32 | NISMO Athlete Global Team | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT | A | Rick Kelly |
| 23 | JBS Swift | Lamborghini Gallardo | A | Peter Kox |
| 9 | Network Clothing / Hallmarc | Audi R8 LMS Ultra | A | Marc Cini |
| 3 | Phoenix Racing | Audi R8 LMS Ultra | A | Laurens Vanthoor |
| 25 | United Autosports | Audi R8 LMS Ultra | A | Mark Patterson |
| 48 | M Motorsport | Lamborghini Gallardo | A | Steven Richards |
| 84 | HTP Motorsport | Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 | A | Thomas Jaegar |
| 33 | Clearwater Racing | Ferrari F458 Italia | A | Weng Sun Mok |
| 14 | Oakley Motorsports | Audi R8 LMS | B | Oliver Gavin |
| 71 | Equity-One Mortgage Fund | Audi R8 LMS | B | Dean Fiore |
| 69 | Superbarn Supermarkets Pty Ltd | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | B | Max Twigg |
| 4 | Grove Group | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | Earl Bamber |
| 12 | Ice Break | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | Alex Davison |
| 45 | Rentcorp Hyundai Forklifts | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | Richard Muscat |
| 67 | Motorsport Services | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | Jonathan Venter |
| 70 | MARC Cars Australia Pty Ltd | Marc Focus GTC | I | Grant Denyer |
| 50 | MARC Cars Australia Pty Ltd | Marc Focus GTC | I | Chris Pither |
| 35 | Sennheiser/Rentcorp Forklifts | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | Indrian Padayachee |
| 19 | Rosche Visper RS75 | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | Damien Flack |
| 42 | Motorline BMW | BMW M3 E46 GTR | D | Anthony Gibertson |
| 51 | IMAK / KWIKMIT | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | B | Andrew Macpherson |
| 60 | MARC Cars Australia Pty Ltd | MARC Focus GTC | I | Dylan Thomas |
| 99 | F.X.D Workwear | Lamborghini Gallardo | B | Peter Hill |
| 6 | SAFE-T-STOP | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | Stuart Kostera |
| 17 | Griffith Corporation | Ginerra G50 | C | Karl Reindler |
| 55 | Compareinsurance.com.au | Lotus Exige | C | Peter Storey |
| 54 | Donut King | Lotus | C | Mark O’Connor |
| 65 | Daytona Sportscars | Daytona Sportscar Coupe | D | Jamie Augustine |
| 66 | Motorsport Services | Seat Leon Supercopa | D | Danny Stutterd |
| 97 | Te Manava Luxury Resort/DVS | BMW M3 GT4 | D | Andre Motrimer |
| 95 | Fiat Abarth Motorsport | Fiat Abarth 500 | F | Paul Stokell |
| 96 | Fiat Abarth Motorsport | Fiat Abarth 500 | F | Luke Youlden |
| 7 | Maximum Motorsport | Subaru WRX Sti | D | Dean Herridge |
| 28 | GWS Personnel | BMW 335i | D | Peter O’Donnell |
| 22 | GT Radial / Radio Hauraki | Seat Leon Supercopa | D | Lewis Scott |
| 59 | Fiat Abarth Motorsport | Fiat Abarth 500 | F | Matthew Campbell |
