The starting grid for the 2023 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour has been set.
The #999 GruppeM Mercedes-AMG will start from pole position thanks to a record-breaking performance from Maro Engel, who has been nominated as the driver to take the green flag when the field is released by the Safety Car before dawn this morning.
He will share the front row with Maximilian Gotz in the Supercheap Auto-backed #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes-AMG, in which Broc Feeney impressed his factory counterparts in qualifying.
The #32 Team WRT BMW and the #74 Melbourne Performance Centre Audi share Row 5 having been disqualified from final qualifying for a tyre pressure and parc ferme breach respectively.
In pre-race BoP adjustments, the Mercedes-AMGs have copped an extra 10kg of ballast, and the Porsches an extra 5kg, while the rest of the GT3s are able to shed weight.
Nominated starting drivers are shown in bold in the table below.
Pos | Num | Team/Sponsor | Car | Drivers | Cls |
1 | 999 | GruppeM Racing | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Maro Engel/Mikael Grenier/Raffaele Marciello | PRO |
2 | 888 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Shane van Gisbergen/Broc Feeney/Maximilian Gotz | PRO |
3 | 912 | Manthey EMA | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Matt Campbell/Mathieu Jaminet/Thomas Preining | PRO |
4 | 75 | Sun Energy 1 | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Kenny Habul/Jules Gounon/Luca Stolz | PRO |
5 | 65 | Melbourne Performance Centre | Audi R8 LMS Evo 2 | Chaz Mostert/Fraser Ross/Liam Talbot | PAM |
6 | 46 | Team WRT | BMW M4 GT3 | Augusto Farfus/Maxime Martin/Valentino Rossi | PRO |
7 | 44 | Valmont Racing | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Marcel Zalloua/Sergio Pires/Duvashen Padayachee/Aaron Cameron | SIL |
8 | 77 | Mercedes-AMG Craft-Bamboo Racing | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Daniel Juncadella/Philip Ellis/Nicky Catsburg | PRO |
9 | 32 | Team WRT | BMW M4 GT3 | Sheldon Van Der Linde/Dries Vanthoor/Charles Weerts | PRO |
10 | 74 | Audi Sport | Audi R8 LMS Evo 2 | Christopher Haase/Patrick Niederhauser/Mattia Drudi | PRO |
11 | 6 | Wall Racing | Lamborghini Huracan | Tony D’Alberto/David Wall/Grant Denyer/Adrian Deitz | SIL |
12 | 55 | FUCHS Lubricants Racing | Audi R8 LMS Evo 2 | Brad Schumacher/James Golding/Frédéric Vervisch | PAM |
13 | 10 | MYLAND | Audi R8 LMS Evo 2 | Daniel Gaunt/Dylan O’Keeffe/Andrew Fawcett | SIL |
14 | 47 | Supabarn | Audi R8 LMS Evo 2 | David Russell/Jonathon Webb/Theo Koundouris/James Koundouris | SIL |
15 | 99 | Boost Mobile Racing | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Jamie Whincup/Richie Stanaway/Prince Jefri Ibrahim | PAM |
16 | 777 | The Bend Motorsport Park | Audi R8 LMS Evo 2 | Christopher Mies/Ricardo Feller/Yasser Shahin | PAM |
17 | 222 | Scott Taylor Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Craig Lowndes/Alex Davison/Geoff Emery/Scott Taylor | PAM |
18 | 24 | Makita Volante Rosso Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Tony Bates/Jordan Love/David Reynolds | PAM |
19 | 101 | Harrolds Volante Rosso Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Ross Poulakis/Josh Hunt/Kevin Tse/Jonathan Hui | SIL |
20 | 4 | Grove Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Stephen Grove/Brenton Grove/Anton De Pasquale | PAM |
21 | 9 | Hallmarc | Audi R8 LMS Evo 2 | Lee Holdsworth/Dean Fiore/Marc Cini | PAM |
22 | 50 | MMotorsport / Vantage Racing | Audi R8 LMS Evo 2 | Trent Harrison/Glen Wood/David Crampton | SIL |
23 | 19 | Nineteen Corporation | Mercedes Benz | Mark Griffith/Fabian Schiller/Christian Pancione | INV |
24 | 111 | 111Racing / MRA Motorsport | MARC I Mazda | Darren Currie/Grant Donaldson/Geoff Taunton | INV |