Cameron Waters has topped an electric Qualifying session at the Bathurst 12 Hour with an incredible 2:01.5631 in the #222 STM AMG. Waters continued his great pace from Practice 6 to set the fastest lap of Qualifying 2 with only seconds left in the session.
His time was the climax of a frantic final 13 minutes, after the session was restarted after a Red Flag to recover the stricken #100 Grove Racing Mercedes, which lost a wheel coming out of the pits.
Once the #100 Mercedes-AMG was recovered, it was all guns blazing as everyone finally showed their hand to try to get into the top 10. It was Christopher Haase in the #55 Jamec Racing Audi who fired first, hitting the top with a 2:01.88 to get the ball rolling. Marco Mapelli hit a 2:01 in the #93 Wall Racing Lamborghini next, before Scott Andrews joined him in the #44 Geyer Valmont Mercedes.
Andrews then stretched the margin, going top with a 2:01.67 to set the fastest lap of the weekend with only three minutes left, before Waters got on track and bested the lot, setting a 2:01.5631 to take the provisional pole by a tenth of a second.
Broc Feeney slotted the #64 HRT Mustang into third behind Andrews, with Luca Stolz and Jayden Ojeda rounding out the top five in the 75 Express Mercedes and #6 Tigani Motorsport AMG, respectively, making it four Mercedes AMGs in the top five.
“I’m stoked,” Feeney said. ” To improve from where we were to third in qualifying is a testament to HRT Ford Racing and the Mustang GT3. We worked really hard for that result, and the Mustang is genuinely fast.
“Third position in the first part of qualifying, and advancing to fight for pole position, is truly exciting.”
Completing the top 10 was Haase, who didn’t improve from his 2:01.88, then Raffaele Marciello in the #46 Team WRT BMW. Lucas Auer was eighth in the #77 Craft Bamboo AMG – the only car to stay in the 10 from Q1 – followed by Matt Campbell in the #911 Absolute Racing Porsche, then Marco Mapelli’s #93 Wall Racing Lamborghini.
Craft Bamboo were cool and calm in Q1, with Auer sitting in the pit lane right up until 10 minutes left in the session before heading out for their first venture on track. It proved to be the right move; Lucas Auer put the #77 Mercedes into the 2’s with his first flier, setting a 2:02.1, and then improved to a 2:01.9715 to top the session.
“We took the risk, we wanted to do the lap time at the end with maximum track evolution,” Auer said after the session. “We knew if there was a red flag, well, that’s how it is.
“But now we did a good time, and it will be interesting to see if we’re in [The Pirelli Pole Battle] because the second group is usually quicker.”
Incredibly, the cut-off time to get into the top 10 was Mapelli’s 2:01.9902, with the top 10 separated by only 0.42 of a second. 8 of the top 10 were Pro-Class cars, with Andrews putting the Pro-Am #44 Geyer Valmont Mercedes into the mix, and Mapelli’s #93 Wall Racing Lamborghini the lead Bronze challenger.
While the top 10 progress to this afternoon’s Pirelli Pole Battle, the remaining positions are set on the grid for the race tomorrow.
Just outside were a pair of BMWs, including the reigning champions – Kelvin van der Linde’s lap in the #32 WRT BMW, only good enough for 12th. Also missing the cut was Laurin Heinrich in the #61 EBM Porsche, who was second in Q1 with a 2:02.3 – only good enough for 13th place.
Neither Ferrari nor Corvette made the top 10, with Ryan Wood putting the #193 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Ferrari into 17th, while Earl Bamber could only manage 25th in the #2 Johor Motorsport Racing Corvette.
One of the stories to come out of Q1 was the #888 Mercedes AMG Team GMR, who ended the session with a 2:06.3, qualifying behind the lead Invitational car. Maro Engel stepped out of the car with over 10 minutes left in Q1, explaining that the Mercedes had suffered an issue.
“We would have loved to have had a crack,” Engel told the broadcasters. “We had a power-related issue, so we’ll have to investigate now and make sure we’re ready for tomorrow.”
It will have to be a great run for the #888 Team GMR if they are to feature tomorrow.
The top Invitational-class car was Glen Wood in the #50 Vantage KTM X-Bow GT2, with a 2:05.76, while the sole remaining GT4 runner, the #42 Method Motorsport McLaren, set a 2:20.6.
The Pirelli Pole Battle hits the track at 15:15 Local time (AEDT, UTC+11) for a 15-minute hit-out for the top 10 spots on the grid.
Images courtesy of Andrew Hall
