The #1 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS (Mies, O’Young, Joens) has claimed pole position for tomorrow’s Bathurst 12 Hour race. On aggregate time they finished one second ahead of the #17 Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3 (Simonsen, Farnbacher, Bowe, Edwards). The #33 Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 GT3 (Sun, Baird, Griffin) was just two one hundredths further back.
Christopher Mies said, “In P1 we have the best opportunity to win the race again this year.” His teammate Darryl O’Young added, “I really respect this track and had to learn it all over again, P1 is a bonus.”
The top five was rounded out by the #23 JBS Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 (Lago, Russell, Park) and the #2 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS (Lowndes, Luff, Eddy).
Craig Baird in the Clearwater Racing Ferrari was the only driver to break the 2:08 ‘balance of performance’ benchmark when he posted a 2:07.55 in the morning qualifying session. Unfortunately for him and his team that will earn them a 50kg weight penalty.
“Some wanker had to make the mistake I suppose,” Baird quipped in the press-conference before explaining he got bamboozled by the dash display in the Ferrari.
Oddly, the 2:08 cap does not apply to the race proper and as a result we’re likely to see race pace much quicker than the qualifying and practice times.
Matt Griffin is confident the times will drop for the top teams tomorrow, “When we’re off the leash we will go quicker [than 2:08], 2:06 maybe.”
Adding some potential spice to the race tomorrow is the weather forecast which is predicting showers during the day.
Dominik Farnbacher is an experienced endurance racer but this is his first time at Mount Panorama and the weather has been dry all weekend. “It’s no problem, I love the rain,” he told AUSmotive.
2012 Bathurst 12 Hour – Qualifying results
- #1 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS – 6:28.65
- #17 Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3 – 6:29.61
- #33 Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 GT3 – 6:29.63
- #23 JBS Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 – 6:29.73
- #2 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS – 6:32.25
- #20 Erebus Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 – 6:39.68
- #22 United Autosport Audi R8 LMS – 6:45.41
- #3 Hunter Sports Group (B) Porsche 997 GT3 – 6:54.20
- #21 Black Falcon Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 – 7:01.05
- #65 Southern Cross Lubes (B) Porsche 997 GT3 – 7:10.39
*All aggregate times are unofficial pending final confirmation from race management.
6 replies on “2012 Bathurst 12 Hour – Qualifying results”
So let me get this straight-you’re not allowed to go as fast as you can in Qualy,but you can in the race-WTF???
Makes “Pole position” a bit of a joke.
Then Bairdo gets 50kg for the race for being “too fast” in Qualy, by less than half a second….
Result is he has gained no advantage,but his team will be slowed for twelve hours….what a crock!
Cheers
Len
Yeah, it does seem a bit daft. But it’s part of the Blancpain Series conditions they race in overseas, we’re told.
It’s OBVIOUSLY part of an anti Ferrari conspiracy! 😛 haha anyways it looks like its gonna rain tomorrow so the Audis should piss it in.
(aaaand i just realised the LMS doesn’t have quattro so i take that back 😛 )
This rule intrigues me too. I can’t find any mention of a minimum or benchmark qualifying or practice time in the Blancpain series regs. It seems to me its a fabrication of the 12hr organisers. Great to see they managed the 2:06.3 during the race though!
That’s quite interesting Malcolm. Thanks for looking into that. A few of the drivers have referred to it throughout the weekend, so it must exist somewhere.