BATHURST 12 HOUR: QUALIFYING WRAP

Air temperatures in the high 30s greeted teams at Mount Panorama on Saturday, as they prepared to put everything on the line for that one hot lap.

The smart money was on pole position coming in the relative cool of the morning, but it was a last-ditch effort in the final session that garnered pole position for the #1 Erebus Motorsport Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 of Bernd Schneider/Maro Engel/Nico Bastian.

V8 Supercar reject Engel was the man who got the business done when it mattered most, winning the inaugural Allan Simonsen Trophy in honour of the super-fast Dane who passed away last year.

Engel’s time of 2:03.8586 came in the Class A ‘shootout’ session and just edged the Ferrari 458 GT3 – Simonsen’s former mount – of ex-Ferrari Formula One driver Mika Salo, who is sharing with Peter Edwards/Craig Lowndes/John Bowe.

Salo was the only other to beat the 2:04 benchmark, and he did it in the combined-class morning run.

Shane van Gisbergen showed his usual commitment to plant his McLaren MP4 12C GT3 on the inside of the second row, missing a sub-2:04 by 0.0007 sec. The Kiwi will share driving duties with Tony Quinn/Klark Quinn/Andrew Kirkaldy.

Will Davison, sharing with Jack Le Brocq/Greg Crick in the all-Aussie Erebus SLS, had the crowd on their feet with a closing effort of 2:04.2563 gaining fourth position on the grid for Sunday’s race.

The imposing Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 of Rick Kelly/Katsumasa Chiyo/Alexander Buncombe/Wolfgang Reip starts fifth on 2:04.8228, with the Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 of early Friday pacesetters Roger Lago/David Russell/Peter Kox rounding out the top six with a time of 2:05.032.

The Lamborghini, which had on Friday run controversially as an earlier specification in Class B, had to be upgraded to Class A specification, the team missing the morning qualifying session as parts were changed.

The chaotic morning session claimed Jason Bright, in the Audi R8 LMS ultra he was sharing with Warren Luff/Rod Salmon/Liam Talbot. Two further red flags interrupted the session before its completion. Thankfully things were calmer on-circuit in the afternoon, just one red flag being shown across the two sessions.

With three different makes in the top three positions and only 0.142 sec covering them, the 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour promises to be very tight; but who’ll be on top?

Bathurst 12 Hour qualifying times:
Class B
O Gavin/R Huff/R Meins/K Gleason, Audi R8 LMS, 2:07.999
D Koutsoumidis/D Grant/D Fiore/M Loccisano, Audi R8 LMS, 2:08.413
J Koundouris/T Koundouris/S Owen/M Twigg, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 2:08.7029

Class C
M Griffith/K Reindler/D Gaunt, Ginetta G50, 2:19.3050
G.Shedden/P Storey/B Gower, Lotus Exige, 2:20.9707
A Alford/P Leemhuis/M O'Connor, Lotus, 2:21.6617

Class D
A Gilbertson/A Chapel/J Clements, BMW M3 E46 GTR, 2:17.1826
J Augustine/B Schoots/P Freestone, Daytona Coupe, 2:25.2719
M Driver/D Stutterd/G Stewart, Seat Leon Supercopa, 2:27.9286

Class F
P Stokell/T Hagon/J Dowling/C Campbell, Fiat Abarth 695, 2:31.0239
L Youlden/P Gover/G Hede/M Sinclair, Fiat Abarth 695, 2:31.2698
M Cherry/M Campbell/L Ellery, Fiat Abarth 695, 2:36.4592

Class I
G Denyer/A Gowans/G Jacobson/A Miedecke, MARC Focus GTC, 2:15.269
K Kassulke/J Camilleri/C Pither, MARC Focus GTC, 2:15.9868
M Benton/H Morrall/D Thomas/R McLeod, MARC Focus GTC, 2:17.4636

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