Porsche penalized for technical infringement
Mercedes-AMG has secured a strong starting position in qualifying for the Bathurst 12 Hour. Supercars driver Cameron Waters put the Scott Taylor Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 on pole position, achieving 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. For Mercedes-AMG, this is already the sixth pole position in the traditional endurance race at Bathurst, Australia.
The remaining starting spots in the top three also went to vehicles of the brand. Second place was taken by the driver trio Maximilian Götz, Ralf Aron, and Lucas Auer in the Craft Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, with a gap of 0.177 seconds to the best time. Kenny Habul, Luca Stolz, and Jules Gounon secured third place in the 75 Express vehicle, also with a Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Behind the dominant Mercedes-AMG vehicles, the Top Ten also include teams with Porsche, Audi, Lamborghini, BMW, and Ford. The qualifying session underscores the strong competition in the Intercontinental GT Challenge, whose season opener traditionally takes place in Bathurst.
Earl Bamber Motorsport, on the other hand, caused a setback. The team with drivers Laurin Heinrich, Klaus Bachler, and Ricardo Feller was disqualified after qualifying. The reason was a technical violation on the Porsche 911 GT3 R with starting number 61.
During technical inspections, officials found that the height of the rear wing was outside the prescribed tolerance. Several measurements confirmed the deviation from the established Balance of Performance regulations. A check conducted by the team also could not prove compliance. Consequently, the car was disqualified and must start the race from the back of the grid.
This puts the Mercedes-AMG teams in the best position for the race, while Earl Bamber Motorsport faces a difficult catch-up.