Erebus Motorsport #63 Mercedes has secured pole position for Sunday’s Liqui-Moly Barthurst 12 Hour despite not taking to the track in the second qualifying session.
The driving crew of Lee Holdsworth, Tim Slade and Peter Hackett watched from the pitlane as the 30 minutes unfolded, with none of their rivals able to make an impression on Holdsworth’s 2:06.27s morning effort as track temperatures soared towards 60 degrees.
The top end of the grid remains unchanged from the morning, with the #88 Maranello Ferrari set to start on the outside of the front-row.
Having been slugged with a 50kg weight penalty for breaking the 2:06.0s benchmark time in Qualifying 1, Maranello’s tough day continued when John Bowe made light contact with the #51 IMAK Mosler late in the second session.
Matt Griffin set the quickest lap in Qualifying 2, clocking a relatively sedate 2:07.79s on his first flying lap in the #33 Clearwater Ferrari. The Malaysian entry will start third thanks to its time from this morning.
Klark Quinn set the second quickest Qualifying 2 time in the #5 VIP Porsche, setting a 2:09.02s after taking over from co-driver Shane van Gisbergen.
It was a difficult second session for the #69 Motorsport Services Porsche, which spent most of the 30 minutes in the pitlane with smoke emanating from its exhaust.
The #29 Trofeo Corvette meanwhile failed to take to the track following its Qualifying 1 accident in the hands of Greg Murphy, but is expected to be fixed in time for tomorrow’s 0700 start.
See below for the full grid for Sunday’s Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour
| 1 | 63 | Erebus Motorsport | Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 | A | 2:06.2730 | |
| 2 | 88 | Il Bello Rosso | Ferrari F458 GT3 | A | 2:06.4839 | 0:00.2109 |
| 3 | 33 | Clearwater Racing | Ferrari F458 GT3 | A | 2:06.8857 | 0:00.6127 |
| 4 | 11 | JBS Swift | Lamborghini GT3 LP56 | A | 2:06.9615 | 0:00.6885 |
| 5 | 9 | Network Clothing / Hallmarc | Audi R8 LMS Ultra GT | A | 2:06.9835 | 0:00.7105 |
| 6 | 36 | Erebus Motorsport | Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 | A | 2:07.2389 | 0:00.9659 |
| 7 | 1 | Phoenix Racing | Audi R8 LMS Ultra GT | A | 2:07.5672 | 0:01.2942 |
| 8 | 5 | VIP Petfoods | Porsche 911 GT3 R | A | 2:07.6015 | 0:01.3285 |
| 9 | 48 | GB Galvanizing | Lamborghini GT3 LP56 | A | 2:07.6838 | 0:01.4108 |
| 10 | 58 | AF Corse SRL | Ferrari F458 GT3 | A | 2:07.9320 | 0:01.6590 |
| 11 | 29 | Trofeo Motorsport / Pirelli | Chevrolet Corvette Z | A | 2:08.6714 | 0:02.3984 |
| 12 | 6 | Skwirk / Oneworld Bar | Audi R8 LMS Ultra GT | A | 2:08.7569 | 0:02.4839 |
| 13 | 71 | Equity-One Mortgage Fund | Audi R8 LMS Ultra GT | A | 2:08.8931 | 0:02.6201 |
| 14 | 23 | United Autosports | Audi R8 LMS Ultra GT | A | 2:08.9790 | 0:02.7060 |
| 15 | 14 | Peter Conroy Motorsport | Audi R8 LMS GT | A | 2:09.8581 | 0:03.5851 |
| 16 | 77 | VIP Petfoods | Aston Martin | GT | 2:10.6374 | 0:04.3644 |
| 17 | 81 | DragonSpeed | Audi R8 LMS Ultra GT | A | 2:11.0050 | 0:04.7320 |
| 18 | 12 | ASM/BRM Motorsports | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | 2:11.7360 | 0:05.4630 |
| 19 | 51 | IMAK / KWIKMIT | Mosler MT900 GT3 | A | 2:13.1292 | 0:06.8562 |
| 20 | 16 | Liqui Moly | BMW Z4 GT3 | A | 2:13.9285 | 0:07.6555 |
| 21 | 30 | Hunter Sports Group | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | 2:13.9314 | 0:07.6584 |
| 22 | 4 | Grove Group | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | 2:14.2955 | 0:08.0225 |
| 23 | 44 | Mal Rose Racing | Holden VY Commodore | I3 | 2:15.8420 | 0:09.5690 |
| 24 | 65 | Daytona Sports Cars Pty Ltd | Daytona Coupe | I3 | 2:16.2340 | 0:09.9610 |
| 25 | 45 | Rentcorp Forklifts | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | 2:16.6129 | 0:10.3399 |
| 26 | 10 | Simply Sports Cars | Lotus Exige | C | 2:21.6981 | 0:15.4251 |
| 27 | 8 | We Are Legend | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | 2:22.0879 | 0:15.8149 |
| 28 | 54 | Donut King | Nissan R35 GTR | C | 2:22.6052 | 0:16.3322 |
| 29 | 69 | Motorsport Services | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | 2:22.6187 | 0:16.3457 |
| 30 | 67 | Motorsport Services | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | 2:24.0454 | 0:17.7724 |
| 31 | 76 | Aston Martin St. Gallen | Aston Martin Vantage | C | 2:25.0950 | 0:18.8220 |
| 32 | 35 | Sennheiser/ Ric Shaw Racing | Mazda RX-7 | I2 | 2:25.9253 | 0:19.6523 |
| 33 | 20 | Team Peugeot RCZ | Peugeot RCZ Cup | I1 | 2:26.5056 | 0:20.2326 |
| 34 | 55 | Motorsport Services | Seat Leon Supercopa | I2 | 2:26.6948 | 0:20.4218 |
| 35 | 56 | Motorsport Services | Seat Leon Supercopa | I2 | 2:27.0011 | 0:20.7281 |
| 36 | 21 | Team Peugeot RCZ | Peugeot RCZ Cup | I1 | 2:27.6536 | 0:21.3806 |
| 37 | 40 | Motor School | Porsche 996 GT3 Cup | GT | 2:27.6843 | 0:21.4113 |
| 38 | 62 | nurburgring.com.au | Lotus Exige S | C | 2:27.7740 | 0:21.5010 |
| 39 | 2 | Racer Industries | Holden Astra HSV VXR | I2 | 2:27.8507 | 0:21.5777 |
| 40 | 60 | 1Cover Motionsport | Lotus Elise | I1 | 2:28.0710 | 0:21.7980 |
| 41 | 68 | Motorsport Services | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | 2:28.2472 | 0:21.9742 |
| 42 | 19 | Sherrin Rentals | BMW 135i | D | 2:28.4451 | 0:22.1721 |
| 43 | 7 | Maximum Motorsport | Subaru Impreza WRX S | D | 2:29.0967 | 0:22.8237 |
| 44 | 73 | ES Australia | Ginetta G50 G4 | GT | 2:30.9941 | 0:24.7211 |
| 45 | 13 | Bruce Lynton BMW | BMW E46 | I3 | 2:31.4765 | 0:25.2035 |
| 46 | 22 | Cootes Transport | Ford FPV GT | D | 2:33.3710 | 0:27.0980 |
| 47 | 3 | Racer Industries | Holden Astra HSV VXR | E | 2:38.9062 | 0:32.6332 |
| 48 | 27 | The Shire Conveyancer | BMW 130i | E | 2:40.6276 | 0:34.3546 |
| 49 | 70 | Motorsport Services | Seat Leon Supercopa | I2 | 2:40.6653 | 0:34.3923 |
| 50 | 26 | GWS Personnel | BMW 130i | E | 2:41.5339 | 0:35.2609 |
| 51 | 17 | Showershop (NZ) | Subaru Impreza WRX S | I2 | 2:43.9006 | 0:37.6276 |
| 52 | 24 | GWS Personnel | BMW 335i | D | 5:06.7677 | 3:00.4947 |
