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Erebus Mercedes on pole for 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour

Maro Engel, Erebus Motorsport Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3

Maro Engel has claimed pole position for the 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour in this afternoon’s Class A-only Qualifying 3 session with an outstanding lap time of 2:03.8586. Engel’s time in the #1 Erebus Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 was 0.0835s faster than Mika Salo’s provisional pole time from this morning.

That means Engel now holds the fastest recorded lap for a closed roof car around Mount Panorama and along with his Erebus teammates they become the inaugural winners of the Allan Simonsen Pole Position Trophy.

Starting from P3 tomorrow will be the #37 McLaren 12C GT3 which went 2:04.0006 at the hands of Shane van Gisbergen. Alongside the McLaren will be the #63 Erebus Mercedes which couldn’t quite pull off a late charge for pole, when Will Davison was the last car across the line, setting a time of 2:04.2563.

Rick Kelly’s 2:04.7643 lap set during the morning session was enough to put the #32 Nissan GTR on the third row. A dispute over technical regulations saw the #23 Lamborghini Gallardo forced to change to 2013-spec and move from Class B up to Class A. The team spent the morning session making the required changes, mostly to do with aerodynamics. David Russell returned to the track in the afternoon to top the time sheets in Qualifying 2 and his time of 2:05.0320 secured P6 on the starting grid.

You could throw a blanket over the next three cars, all Audi R8 LMS Ultras. The Audis posted their fastest times in the cooler morning conditions, with the #9 Network Clothing R8 recording a 2:05.5919 lap; the #3 Phoenix Racing R8 was desperately close with a time of 2:05.5946 and the #25 United Autosports R8 went 2:05.7175.

The top 10 is rounded out by #48 Lamborghini Gallardo which recorded its 2:06.3498 time in the morning session.

After collecting the pole trophy Engel paid tribute to Simonsen, killed at Le Mans last year, as well as his former teammate Sean Edwards, who died after a testing accident in Queensland where he was acting as a private tutor.

2014 Bathurst 12 Hour – Qualifying times
Qualifyng 1 | Qualifying 2 | Qualifying 3

2014 Bathurst 12 Hour – Qualifying (combined top 10)

  1. #1 Erebus Motorsport Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 – 2:03.8586
  2. #88 il Bello Rosso Ferrari F458 Italia – 2:03.9421 (+0:00.0835)
  3. #37 Darrell Lea McLaren MP4 12C – 2:04.0006 (+0:00.1420)
  4. #63 Erebus Motorsport Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 – 2:04.2563 (+0:00.3977)
  5. #32 NISMO Athlete Global Team Nissan GT-R NISMO GT – 2:04.8228 (+0:00.9642)
  6. #23 JBS Swift Lamborghini Gallardo – 2:05.0320 (+0:01.1734)
  7. #9 Network Clothing / Hallmarc Audi R8 LMS Ultra – 2:05.5919 (+0:01.7333)
  8. #3 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS Ultra – 2:05.5946 (+0:01.7360)
  9. #25 United Autosports Audi R8 LMS Ultra – 2:05.7175 (+0:01.8589)
  10. #48 M Motorsport Lamborghini Gallardo – 2:06.3498 (+0:02.4912)

A full starting grid, including starting drivers, can be seen HERE.

5 replies on “Erebus Mercedes on pole for 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour”

Your article needs a correction.

A lap record is only set during a race. Any so-called “lap records” set during practice, qualifying, tests or demonstrations are just trivia without any official status.

If you’re talking about unofficial fastest laps, you can’t include today’s qualifying but exclude the fact that the unofficial fastest lap still belongs to Jenson Button.

I understand your point Dave, but I think it’s an unnecessary hair splitting exercise to be honest.

It’s an official race meeting with official timing and the time doesn’t magically cease to exist just because it was timed during qualifying and not during a race.

I do understand the difference between an official lap record set during a race and a timed lap record. However, I’m not the only outlet describing these qualifying/practice laps as records and should the official lap record be broken during tomorrow’s race it will be described as such.

In earlier articles I’ve described these times as GT records, or records for tintop cars etc, so the point has been acknowledged already. I will add that caveat back into the text above.

Stefan Bellof is acknowledged as the fastest man around the Nordschelife even thought it was only an imaginary qualifying lap time.

Sorry if I seem a but curt, but I find this sort of discussion is really lame, haha.

I’m sorry that you don’t seem to have any clue of motorsport tradition and have to descend to the same sort of tabloid sensationalist headlines as outlets like the Herald Sun and Daily Telegraph.

Thanks for correcting your mistake, and hopefully you’ll be able to report on a proper GT3 Class lap record tomorrow.

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