GruppeM takes provisional pole with lap-record pace

GruppeM Racing has provisional pole position for the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour after Maro Engel set a new practice lap record in the #999 Mercedes-AMG in Qualifying – Part 2.

Engel got as close to a two-minute-flat as anyone ever has at the Bathurst 12 Hour when he set a 2:01.0536s around Mount Panorama, early in the 40-minute session.

Between that and Raffaele Marciello’s 2:01.5130s in the bright yellow Mercedes-AMG when he jumped in for the latter half of the session, it was enough for GruppeM to achieve the fastest aggregate time and thus go into the top 50 percent of this afternoon’s session which will finalise the starting grid.

CLICK HERE for the (unofficial) list of starters for this afternoon’s Top Ten Shootout

With the Pro cars brought into the process for Q2, the big guns were let loose, although two drivers were required to set a lap time in those cars in the top class.

Richie Stanaway was quickest initially with a 2:04.3717s in the #99 Triple Eight Race Engineering but as tyres came up to optimal temperature, Engel turned the wick up in another of the Mercedes-AMGs in the field.

The German set a 2:01.7072s on his second flyer and then broke the practice/qualifying lap record with a 2:01.0536s next time through in the #999 GruppeM entry.

Sheldon van der Linde had, by then, clocked a 2:01.7072s in the #32 Team WRT BMW and Chaz Mostert moved to third on the timing screen with a 2:01.9659s in the #65 Melbourne Performance Centre Audi.

Matt Campbell was still more than half a second in arrears when he achieved a 2:01.6146s to go second in the 15th minute of the session in the #912 Manthey EMA Porsche.

Mostert, being in a Pro-Am car, remained in the #65 Audi as the Pro class entries started to switch drivers around the halfway mark of the session.

The two-time Bathurst 12 Hour pole-sitter was fastest to Sector 2 at the start of his second run but caught up to Daniel Gaunt at The Chase and appeared to be hampered by the dirty air being thrown by the sister #10 Audi as he failed to improve his time.

After Jules Gounon set a 2:01.7452s when he started the session in the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG, Lucas Stolz jumped into the cockpit and set back-to-back 2:01.5705s, 2:01.4154s, and 2:01.3210s times.

In the 33rd minute, Broc Feeney put the Supercheap Auto-backed #888 Triple Eight Mercedes-AMG into third on the timing screen with a 2:01.4773s and then a 2:01.4359s, faster than Maximilian Gotz’s 2:02.0471s earlier in the session.

Mostert continued to rag the #65 Audi, setting a 2:01.9462s before catching a big moment at Skyline on his way to a 2:01.7353s on the following lap which put him into sixth.

Then, just before the chequered flag, he set yet another fastest second sector and moved up to fourth on a 2:01.5647s, despite being let down by his R8 LMS GT3 evo II’s speed down Conrod Straight.

The top 10 for the session was thus the #999 GruppeM Mercedes-AMG, the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG, the #888 Triple Eight Mercedes-AMG, the #65 MPC Audi, the #912 Manthey EMA Porsche, the #32 WRT BMW, the #99 Triple Eight Mercedes-AMG, the #55 Schumacher Audi, the #46 WRT BMW, and the #777 MPC Audi.

Final qualifying, officially a Top Ten Shootout, gets underway at 16:10 local time/AEDT.

Results: Qualifying – Part 2 Individual drivers