MARCIELLO ON BATHURST 12 HOUR POLE

Team GruppeM Racing will start the Bathurst 12 Hour from pole position – Photo: InSyde Media

Raffaele Marciello will start on pole for tomorrow’s Bathurst 12 Hour despite setting the second fastest time in this afternoon’s Top 10 Shootout.

Fastest was the provisional polesitter R-Motorsport Aston Martin driver Jake Dennis, however he was handed a two-grid spot penalty for speeding in pit lane meaning the Vantage V12 GT3 starts third for the race, which starts at 5:45am AEDT.

Marciello was second to start the shootout and set an impressive 2m 02.9348s lap to hold the benchmark until Dennis completed the session with a 2m 02.4946s to take the British marque’s first Pole Position at The Mountain in the final start for the older generation car.

Starting alongside Marciello on the front row is former Supercars driver Maro Engel in a great start to Craft Bamboo’s new association with Mercedes-AMG.

Jake Dennis steered his R-Motorsport Aston Martin to claim the Allan Simonsen Trophy – Photo: InSyde Media

Starting alongside Dennis on the second row is the first of the Bentley’s driven by Steven Kane, 0.6137s off the pole winning lap time, while behind David Reynolds tops off a Mercedes-heavy top five in The Bend Motorsport Park Mercedes-AMG GT3.

The lead Audi Sport Team Valvoline R8 GT3 LMS driven by South African Kelvin van der Linde was next, followed by Porsche Young Professional Matt Campbell, who completed a scrappy lap to place seventh and Yelmur Buurman was eighth in another Mercedes.

The second Audi Sport Team Valvoline R8 GT3 LMS piloted by Christopher Haase and the lead KCMG Nissan GT-R GT3 driven by Alexandre Imperatori rounded out the top 10.

In the earlier qualifying session, the closeness of the competition was highlighted by the top 18 cars being within a second as the pre-race favourite, the star-studded Team Vodafone Mercedes-AMG GT3 placed 19th and Chaz Mostert could only muster 15th in the BMW Team Schnitzer M6 GT3

Tomorrow’s action begins at 5:45am.

For a comprehensive Bathurst 12 Hour preview and event guide pick up the new issue of Auto Action (1753), on sale now.

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