It was an incredibly fast qualifying session at the Mountain today, with a new Mount Panorama lap record set. Maro Engel in the #999 GruppeM Mercedes was straight out of the gate in Q2, taking no time to set the first 2:01 of the weekend. He immediately backed it up the next lap with an incredible 2:01.0536, a new all time qualifying record at The Mountain, breaking the 2:01.2860 set by Shane Van Gisbergen in the Tekno Autosports McLaren 650S back in 2016.
Engel was one of 9 drivers in 7 cars who set lap times in the 2:01’s, which included his teammate Raffaele Marciello who himself set a 2:01.51, putting them at the top on a combined aggregate.
Second place was the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG, at the hands of Luca Stolz and Jules Gouon. Gounon set a 2:01.7 while Stolz set a 2:01.32, firmly securing second place.
Other drivers to set 2:01’s were Broc Feeney in the #888 Supercheap Auto Mercedes, Chaz Mostert in the #65 SportsBet Audi, Matt Campbell in the #912 Manthey EMA Porsche, Sheldon van der Linde in the #32 WRT BMW, and Richie Stanaway in the #99 Boost Mobile Mercedes. After the first runs of the session, the timing screen read Mercedes, Porsche, BMW and Audi, with the second run seeing the Mercedes jump to the top.
The combined aggregate times sees the #999 GruppeM Mercedes, #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes, #888 Supercheap Auto Mercedes, #912 Manthey EMA Porsche and #32 WRT BMW qualifying in the top 5, and the #46 WRT BMW, #74 AudiSport Team MPC, the #65 Sportsbet Audi, #77 Craft Bamboo Mercedes, and the #44 Valmont Racing Mercedes.
The #44 Valmont Racing Mercedes just scraped through, with Aaron Cameron and Duvashen Padayachee setting the laps. Cameron set a 2:03.1066 in the first session, which Padayachee followed up with a 2:03.0143. Their combined times just edged out the combined aggregate for the Wall Racing #6 – Wall setting a 3.4 and D’Alberto following up with a 2.7, and #10 MYLAND Team AMS Audi – Dylan O’Keeffe setting the fastest lap in Q1 with a 2.5, and Daniel Gaunt setting a 3.7.
Many of the highly-rated Pro-Am outfits suffered from the requirement to run the Bronze driver in the Q1 session, whereas the Silver Cup teams could run a silver in each session. The only Pro-Am team to make the shootout was the #65 Sportsbet Audi, thanks to Mostert’s mega 2:01.5, and Talbot being the fastest of the Bronze runners.
In Q1, Liam Talbot was the first of the Pro-Am drivers in the #65 SportsBet Audi, setting a 3.94 despite leaving a lick of paint on the wall at the Cutting.
Inch perfect!
⏱️ https://t.co/TNcx6ZTzHa
📺 https://t.co/lYPuTTgxzc#IGTC | #B12Hr 🦘 pic.twitter.com/I2zgHBACyk— Intercontinental GT Challenge (@IntercontGTC) February 4, 2023
The session was interrupted for 7 minutes to recover the #111 MRA Motorsport MARC I Mazda that found the gravel trap at Hell Corner. Grant Donaldson going deep under brakes and running wide, going through the gravel and nudging into the tyre barrier.
Qualifying has been red flagged with a MARC Mazda going into the wall at Turn 1 #B12hr pic.twitter.com/UkqNQxPmDQ
— Bathurst 12 Hour (@Bathurst12hour) February 4, 2023
O’Keeffe and Cameron elected to stay in the pits on the resumption, with O’Keeffe telling the host broadcasters that he ‘got the most out of [the car]’.
The Top 10 proceed through to the shootout, which sees the bottom half given 15 minutes on track to set their fastest lap, followed by a 15 minute session for the top half of the top 10. The fastest lap from each car will then set the top 10 on the grid for the Bathurst 12 Hour.
