Cameron Waters tops the sheets in the Pole Battle for the Bathurst 12 Hour, leads Mercedes top 3
- Tarun Suresh
- 8 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Written by Tarun Suresh
Just like they did in qualifying, Mercedes dominated the shootout for pole, with Cameron Waters taking pole position, clocking in the second fastest qualifying lap in Bathurst 12 Hour history.
The Results:
No.222 Scott Taylor Motorsport - C. Waters - 2:01.079
No.77 Mercedes-AMG Craft-Bamboo - L. Auer - 2:01.256
No.75 75 Express - L. Stolz - 2:01.294
No.911 Absolute Racing - M. Campbell - 2:01.310
No.55 Jamec Racing Team - C. Haase - 2:01.543
No.93 Wall Racing - M. Mapelli - 2:01.750
No.46 Team WRT - R. Marciello - 2:01.873
No. 44 Geyer Valmont Racing/Tigani Motorsport - S. Andrews - 2:01.930
No. 64 HRT Ford - B. Feeney - 2:01.949
No. 6 Tigani Motorsport - J. Odeja - 2:02.123
As it happened
Supercars V8 qualifying superstar, Broc Feeney, kicked things off with a 2:02.415 benchmark time with roughly seven minutes to go. Scott Andrews followed in the No.44 Tigani Mercedes and set a 2:02.593.
Marco Mapelli was the first to break into the 2:01s, with a 2:01.991. Feeney improved his lap time soon after, but only by two-tenths behind Mapelli. Mapelli’s time at the top did not last long, with the Mercedes of Qualifying 2 topper, Cameron Waters, clocking in a 2:01.922.
With standings rapidly changing, the Mercedes cars occupied the top three. With two minutes to go, Waters improved to a 2:01.079, the second fastest qualifying lap ever at Bathurst. Lucas Auer in the No.77 was two tenths off, and Luca Stolz in the No.75 was 50 milliseconds behind him.
With the chequered flag coming out, nobody could top Waters’ time, handing the 222 Scott Taylor Mercedes pole position. Last year’s polesitter, Lucas Auer, couldn’t improve on his previous time, but managed to put the No.77 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes in second, with Stolz in the No.75 75 Express in third.
Following the all-Mercedes top three was two-time Bathurst 12 Hour winner Matt Campbell, slotting the No.911 Absolute Racing Porsche in fourth. Christopher Haase in the No.55 Jamec Racing Team Audi R8 rounded off the top five.
An impressive effort from Marco Mapelli saw the No.93 Wall Racing Lamborghini in sixth. Raffaele Marciello in the No.46 Team WRT BMW qualified seventh. Scott Andrews in the No.44 Mercedes qualified eighth. Feeney put the No.64 in ninth for the Mustang’s debut at the 12 Hour, and Jayden Ojeda was the slowest in the shootout for pole, meaning the No.6 Tigani Motorsport Mercedes will start tenth.
Qualifying is vital for the Bathurst 12 Hour, with all wins coming from those who qualified in the top seven, barring the 2020 win from the No.7 Bentley piloted by Jules Gounon, Jordan Pepper and Maxime Soulet. The Mercedes cars look to be the quickest of the bunch and will be the ones to keep a lookout for come race day.
