Erebus Motorsport has ended the first of two qualifying sessions for the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour at the top of the order after a penalty for the pace-setting Maranello Motorsport Ferrari.
Lee Holdsworth's early effort of 2:06.27s in the Mercedes was later beaten to the tune of 0.78s by the Allan Simonsen-driven Ferrari – a time which will be disallowed under the race's 2:06.0s minimum time regulations.
Breaking the benchmark, which is in play during the pre-race sessions to help the class entries make the 130 percent qualifying cut-off, will also earn the Maranello entry a 50kg weight penalty for the remainder of the event.
The car's second best time of 2:06.4s was good enough for second fastest ahead of the Matt Griffin driven #33 Clearwater Ferrari on 2:06.9s.
The #23 JBS Lamborghini was just 0.08s further adrift in fourth, with the #9 Network Clothing Audi fifth.
The #36 Erebus Mercedes, #1 Phoenix Audi, #5 VIP Porsche, #48 GB Galvanizing Lamborghini and #58 AF Corse Ferrari rounded out the top 10.
The majority of the outright contenders cycled through their entire driver line-ups during the 90 minutes after an early flurry of fast times when the ambient conditions were at their coolest.
The #6 Craig Lowndes/Warren Luff/Rod Salmon Skwirk Audi had a quiet session, recording just the 12th fastest time after struggling with traffic.
The session was punctuated by three red flag periods, the first of which was called in the opening moments after the #9 Audi stopped on the circuit with battery issues.
It took just 20 minutes for the car to return to the circuit, with two-time defending race winner Mies soon joining the heavy-hitters in the 2:06s bracket.
The session was also halted at the 30 minute mark after Greg Murphy crashed the #29 Trofeo Motorsport Corvette while negotiating lapped traffic at Forrest Elbow.
Another incident at the Elbow, this time a clash between the Ivo Breukers-driven #3 Racer Industries Astra and the exit wall, caused the final stoppage with 25 minutes remaining.
Steven Richards was lucky to survive a late spin at The Cutting in the #48 Lamborghini – missing the concrete before completing an awkward multi-point turn in order to rejoin.
A 30 minute final qualifying session at 1340 local time will determine the full grid for Sunday's 12 Hour race.
See below for the full qualifying result
1 | 63 | Erebus Motorsport | Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 | A | 2:06.2730 |
2 | 88 | Il Bello Rosso | Ferrari F458 GT3 | A | 2:06.4839 |
3 | 33 | Clearwater Racing | Ferrari F458 GT3 | A | 2:06.8857 |
4 | 11 | JBS Swift | Lamborghini GT3 LP56 | A | 2:06.9615 |
5 | 9 | Network Clothing / Hallmarc | Audi R8 LMS Ultra GT | A | 2:06.9835 |
6 | 36 | Erebus Motorsport | Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 | A | 2:07.2389 |
7 | 1 | Phoenix Racing | Audi R8 LMS Ultra GT | A | 2:07.5672 |
8 | 5 | VIP Petfoods | Porsche 911 GT3 R | A | 2:07.6015 |
9 | 48 | GB Galvanizing | Lamborghini GT3 LP56 | A | 2:07.6838 |
10 | 58 | AF Corse SRL | Ferrari F458 GT3 | A | 2:07.9320 |
11 | 29 | Trofeo Motorsport / Pirelli | Chevrolet Corvette Z | A | 2:08.6714 |
12 | 6 | Skwirk / Oneworld Bar | Audi R8 LMS Ultra GT | A | 2:08.7569 |
13 | 71 | Equity-One Mortgage Fund | Audi R8 LMS Ultra GT | A | 2:08.8931 |
14 | 23 | United Autosports | Audi R8 LMS Ultra GT | A | 2:08.9790 |
15 | 14 | Peter Conroy Motorsport | Audi R8 LMS Ultra GT | A | 2:09.8581 |
16 | 81 | DragonSpeed | Audi R8 LMS Ultra GT | A | 2:11.0050 |
17 | 12 | ASM/BRM Motorsports | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | 2:11.7360 |
18 | 51 | IMAK / KWIKMIT | Mosler MT900 GT3 | A | 2:13.1292 |
19 | 16 | Liqui Moly | BMW Z4 GT3 | A | 2:13.9285 |
20 | 30 | Hunter Sports Group | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | 2:13.9314 |
21 | 4 | Grove Group | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | 2:14.2955 |
22 | 44 | Mal Rose Racing | Holden VY Commodore | I3 | 2:16.1436 |
23 | 65 | Daytona Sports Cars Pty Ltd | Daytona Coupe | I3 | 2:16.2340 |
24 | 45 | Rentcorp Forklifts | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | 2:16.6129 |
25 | 10 | Simply Sports Cars | Lotus Exige | C | 2:21.6981 |
26 | 8 | We Are Legend | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | 2:22.0879 |
27 | 54 | Donut King | Nissan R35 GTR | C | 2:22.6052 |
28 | 69 | Motorsport Services | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | 2:22.6187 |
29 | 67 | Motorsport Services | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | 2:24.0454 |
30 | 76 | Aston Martin St. Gallen | Aston Martin Vantage | C | 2:25.0950 |
31 | 35 | Sennheiser/ Ric Shaw Racing | Mazda RX-7 | I2 | 2:25.9253 |
32 | 20 | Team Peugeot RCZ | Peugeot RCZ Cup | I1 | 2:26.5056 |
33 | 55 | Motorsport Services | Seat Leon Supercopa | I2 | 2:26.6948 |
34 | 56 | Motorsport Services | Seat Leon Supercopa | I2 | 2:27.0011 |
35 | 21 | Team Peugeot RCZ | Peugeot RCZ Cup | I1 | 2:27.6536 |
36 | 62 | nurburgring.com.au | Lotus Exige S | C | 2:27.7740 |
37 | 2 | Racer Industries | Holden Astra HSV VXR | I2 | 2:27.8507 |
38 | 19 | Sherrin Rentals | BMW 135i | D | 2:28.4451 |
39 | 7 | Maximum Motorsport | Subaru Impreza WRX S | D | 2:29.0967 |
40 | 60 | 1Cover Motionsport | Lotus Elise | I1 | 2:29.3522 |
41 | 13 | Bruce Lynton BMW | BMW E46 | I3 | 2:31.4765 |
42 | 68 | Motorsport Services | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | B | 2:33.2178 |
43 | 22 | Cootes Transport | Ford FPV GT | D | 2:33.3710 |
44 | 3 | Racer Industries | Holden Astra HSV VXR | E | 2:38.9062 |
45 | 27 | The Shire Conveyancer | BMW 130i | E | 2:40.6276 |
46 | 70 | Motorsport Services | Seat Leon Supercopa | I2 | 2:41.0537 |
47 | 26 | GWS Personnel | BMW 130i | E | 2:41.5339 |
48 | 17 | Showershop (NZ) | Subaru Impreza WRX S | I2 | 2:43.9006 |
49 | 24 | GWS Personnel | BMW 335i | D | 9:09.2838 |