Porsche relegated after technical infringement
Mercedes-AMG secured a strong starting position in qualifying for the Bathurst 12 Hours. Supercars driver Cameron Waters put the Scott Taylor Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 on pole position and set one of the fastest lap times in the history of the Mount Panorama Circuit. With a time of 2:01.079 minutes, he narrowly missed the track record and also secured the Allan Simonsen Trophy for the fastest qualifying lap.
Waters shares the car with Chaz Mostert and Thomas Randle. This is the sixth pole position for Mercedes-AMG in the tradition-steeped endurance race in Bathurst, Australia.
The other grid positions in the top three also went to vehicles from the brand. Second place went to the driver trio of Maximilian Götz, Ralf Aron and Lucas Auer in the Craft Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, 0.177 seconds behind the best time. Third place went to Kenny Habul, Luca Stolz and Jules Gounon in the 75 Express car, also in a Mercedes-AMG GT3.
The dominant Mercedes-AMG cars are followed in the top ten by teams including Porsche, Audi, Lamborghini, BMW and Ford. Qualifying underlines the strong competition in the Intercontinental GT Challenge, the season opener of which traditionally takes place in Bathurst.
Earl Bamber Motorsport, on the other hand, suffered a setback. The team with drivers Laurin Heinrich, Klaus Bachler and Ricardo Feller was removed from the classification after qualifying. The reason for this was a technical infringement on the Porsche 911 GT3 R with starting number 61.
During technical checks, those responsible discovered that the height of the rear wing was outside the prescribed tolerance. Several measurements confirmed the deviation from the specified balance of performance specifications. A check carried out by the team was also unable to confirm conformity. As a result, the vehicle was disqualified and had to start the race from the back of the grid.
This means that the Mercedes-AMG teams go into the race with the best prerequisites, while Earl Bamber Motorsport faces a difficult race to catch up.