A spectacular Sheldon Van Der Linde gave BMW Pole Position for the Bathurst 12h, the opening event of the 2024 Intercontinental GT Challenge season.
On the difficult and wonderful Mount Panorama, the Team WRT standard bearer stood out in his assault on the record at the end of the Top10 Shootout session, which saw the protagonists of the SRO Motorsports Group series battle it out with just two timed laps available.
The South African achieved his best performance in 2'01″981 at the wheel of the BMW M4 GT3 #32 which he will share in the race with Sheldon Van Der Linde and Dries Vanthoor, beating the Mercedes-AMG #888 of Triple Eight Race Engineering by 0″256 driven by Broc Feeney, who had been fastest in Lunchtime Qualifying.
In the second row is Maro Engel in the Mercedes #130 of GruppeM Racing in a live celebration for the 130 years of sporting activity of the Star of Stuttgart, taking a 0″429 gap and keeping the Porsche #912 of the local idol behind him by a whisker Matt Campbell (Manthey EMA).
In the Top5 there are three AMG GT3s thanks to Luca Stolz, who finished fifth in the #75 of Sun Energy 1 winner of the 2023 edition, while the Audis of the Melbourne Performance Center entrusted to Ricardo Feller (#2) and Kelvin Van Der Linde (# 222) are in sixth and seventh position.
Maxime Martin did not go beyond the eighth time at the wheel of the BMW #46 of Team WRT which he will share with Valentino Rossi and Raffaele Marciello, the latter having his first official experience on the M4.
#46 Team WRT, BMW M4 GT3: Valentino Rossi, Raffaele Marciello, Maxime Martin
Photo by: BMW Motorsport
The Porsche #911 of Manthey EMA in the hands of Alessio Picariello and Jordan Love with the Mercedes #88 of Triple Eight complete the Top10 with 1″ on the back, obtaining first and second place respectively in the PRO/AM Class.
In Qualifying, where many waited for the final minutes to enter the track, allowing it to rubberize and saving available Pirelli trains, the first excluded from the battle for Pole had also emerged.
The first car to fail was the #77 Mercedes of Craft Bamboo, followed by the #9 Audi of MPC (third PRO/AM) and the Mercedes of Scott Taylot Motorsport #222 and MMotorsport #48.
However, 14th place overall for Luke Youlden in the Audi #44 of Valmont Racing/Tigani M'sport means Pole in the Silver Class, followed by the Lamborghini #93 of Wall Racing which with Tony D'Alberto on top had performed well in the first part of the tests. Third in the category is David Russel driving the Mercedes #47 of Supabarn Supermarkets/Tigani, 17th overall.
The Bathurst 12h will start at 7.45pm Italian time, with LIVE on Motorsport.com
IGTC – Bathurst 12: Qualifying
IGTC – Bathurst 12: Top10 Shootout
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