Bathurst Saturday Notebook

Photo: Gruppe C Photography/SRO

***Mercedes-AMG scored a 1-2-3 qualifying sweep in Saturday afternoon’s Pirelli Pole Battle for the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour, marking the German manufacturer’s record-extending sixth pole position for the Intercontinental GT Challenge season opener.

***Cameron Waters’ 2:01.079 in the Scott Taylor Motorsport entry marked the second-fastest qualifying lap around Mount Panorama, with Maro Engel’s record 2:00.881 time achieved in 2023, also in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, remaining intact for a third consecutive year. Waters became the first Australian driver to win pole since Chaz Mostert in 2022, who is co-driver this weekend.

***Waters said: “Tomorrow’s where it counts. It’s so hard during these weekends to know where everyone is. I’m sure there’s people still sandbagging in qualifying and whatnot. For us, the Aussies, we just let it all out and see how we go.”

***Matt Campbell’s fourth place qualifying run, as best of the rest in the No. 911 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, could be a good omen, as the last three winners of the race rolled off from fourth on the grid. The two-time Bathurst 12 Hour winner will share driving duties with Alessio Picariello and Bastian Buus.

***The starting grid is down to 34 cars following the withdrawal of the No. 7 Team NZ Aston Martin Vantage GT4 of Graeme Dowsett, Romain Leroux and Chris Van Der Drift following Dowsett’s accident at Reid Park in the final practice of the day on Friday. The stewards did not issue any form of warning or penalty for the incident, which involved the No. 21 Herberth Motorsport Porsche of Alfred Renauer, who appeared to have made slight contact with the Aston.

***It has resulted in only a single GT4 for the race, the No. 42 Method Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 of Adrian Kunzle and Americans Steven Aghakhani and Kevin Madsen. The only other non-GT3 cars on the grid are the No. 50 Vantage Racing KTM X-Bow GT2 and III Racing IRC GT, both in the Invitational class.

***Bathurst 12 Hour event director Shane Rudzis revealed that both camping and hospitality suites are sold out for the first time in event history, while pre-event ticket sales are up by 8 percent, with the event on track to be the most successful yet. It is also the case when factoring in the starting grid, which will feature 31 GT3 cars, the second-largest field of top-level GT machinery in race history.

***Rudzis told Sportscar365: “When I first took over in 2023, we had all those freight issues and it was hard to get confidence for people to come back here. To get to the level we have this year at Bathurst, it was a three or four-year plan to get there. Talking to Ford and GM, the goal was always there but it was just false-starting every time. The event’s been built up now that we’re building an attractive offering. It’s all come together now. All the hard work is now paying off.”

***Zhuhai-based Team KRC is contesting Bathurst for the first time primarily because FIA Bronze-rated Ruan Cunfan discovered the venue on popular racing simulator iRacing, according to team director Mars Kang – the ‘K’ in KRC.

***Kang told Sportscar365: “Tony’ [Ruan] does a lot of iRacing, and he realized that Bathurst is quite a fun track. He asked me if we can do Bathurst, but I have never come here, so to be honest in the beginning I was a bit nervous. But now we have arrived I have realized what a fantastic circuit it is! Hopefully we can come again next year.”

***KRC’s crocodile mascot Makus has also been given a makeover for the team’s first trip down under, appearing on the livery of the No. 89 BMW wearing a kangaroo suit and a koala suit.

***All three of its drivers, including BMW factory pilot Max Hesse, are making their Bathurst debuts in the Bronze class entry. “What a track, what a place to be honest,” Hesse told Sportcar365. “It feels like a bit like the Nordschleife. It’s really, really cool. Also with Team KRC, it’s our first time working together and we’re slowly building everything up.”

***BMW M Motorsport director Andreas Roos said it still remains a goal to have M4 GT3 EVOs in the Australian market. “We already have a lot of GT3 cars worldwide running, but to be honest, yes, we are still missing cars in Australia,” he told Sportscar365. “We have GT4 cars here already but maybe we manage also to have some customers who would like to run our M4 GT3 EVO in the Australian championship.”

***Should one of the three BMWs win on Sunday, the German manufacturer would match Mercedes-AMG and Audi with three Bathurst 12 Hour wins in GT3 era, although a win would tie BMW with Mazda with all-time race wins when factoring in its 2007 victory by Craig Baird, Garry Holt and Paul Morris in a BMW 335i during the event’s touring car period.

***Valentino Rossi will celebrate his 47th birthday the day after the race on Monday. When asked what it would mean to win at Bathurst using his iconic No. 46 in his final opportunity to do so as a 46-year-old, the Italian replied: “It could be the best gift. Last year we finished second, but to win is another story. We will try. Already I will be happy if we can fight for victory, but for sure if we win it would be special. [A big party] for sure!”

***Ahead of his fourth start at Mount Panorama, Rossi also outlined the factors that keep him wanting to return to the famed Australian venue. “First of all, the track,” he said. “The track is really unique. It’s a special track, and a very good track for GT3s. It’s the right size, very fast and demanding, and I enjoy it very much. Also, I am happy to come at least once a year to Australia because I have a lot of friends, and a lot of fans here.”

***The name ‘Andres Pato’ is the latest pseudonym being used by experienced Indonesian campaigner Andrew Haryanto, who is part of the lineup for the Volante Rosso Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 at Bathurst. Haryanto last raced under his own name in 2023 before switching to the alias ‘Andre Canard’ in 2024 for his campaign in the GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS with Absolute Corse.

***Together with ‘Andrea Anatra’, another pseudonym used by Haryanto last season, all three aliases are simply ‘Andrew Duck’ translated into different languages, with ‘Pato’, ‘Canard’ and ‘Anatra’ all meaning duck in Spanish, French and Italian respectively. Haryanto has often raced cars running liveries that feature duck motifs.

***Speaking to Sportscar365, Haryanto admitted that ‘Andres Pato’ is likely to be the final false identity he creates to race under, although he will continue to use it this season.

***Wall Racing has one of its former race cars, a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO, in the Bathurst paddock in plain livery with a ‘for sale’ sign. The car is the chassis that raced four times in the Bathurst 12 Hour from 2019-23, scoring a best finish of fifth overall with Tony D’Alberto, Grant Denyer, Adrian Deitz and owner David Wall sharing duties. The same chassis also raced in the Suzuka 10 Hours in 2019.

***Kelvin van der Linde admitted he’s unsure if he’ll be able to defend his Intercontinental GT Challenge title this year, with the South African, nor any BMW factory driver, currently confirmed for a full season campaign, as was the case this time last year. The German manufacturer, meanwhile, has yet to even formally commit to Pro class entries for the final two races of the season.

***Van der Linde, who is confirmed to defend his title in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS, told Sportscar365: “I don’t really know if the [IGTC] title dream is on for me this year. At this point, I’m focusing on race by race and trying to defend this race. The way BMW goes about doing the lineups probably hasn’t changed from last year.”

***Factory Lexus racer Ben Barnicoat is making his first Bathurst outing since 2020, when he contested the event in a McLaren 720S GT3 for 59Racing – also the same year McLaren last contested the Australian race in the GT3 class. The Briton is part of the Optimum Motorsport lineup alongside Garnet Patterson and Marvin Kirchhoefer.

***Barnicoat told Sportscar365: “I was actually in the car the last time it raced at Bathurst. I think that’s a lot of the reason I was selected to go there. A few of the people who were there then we will be going back with. The technical director here, Ian Smith, was the technical director when we were there in 2020. We have a bit of continuity, which is good. I think having that experience counts for a lot.”

***Heart of Racing team principal Ian James revealed that the lineup for its No. 23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo in the FIA World Endurance Championship should be confirmed in the next ten days as they are “working through some final things.”

***When asked if Eduardo ‘Dudu’ Barrichello, who is already confirmed for a full season IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD class program with the team, could also be part of the WEC lineup, James told Sportscar365: “He’s part of the stable so he’s always a possibility. I really like him and he’s a good addition to the team.”

***Coverage of the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour gets underway Sunday at 5:45 a.m. local time (Saturday, 1:45 p.m. ET) with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel. Coverage in Australia will be streamed on the Foxtel-owned Kayo Sports app, commercial free, while New Zealand fans can watch the race live on Sky Sport NZ.

***John Hindhaugh, Richard Craill and Garth Tander will lead the broadcast team in the booth, with Shea Adam and Chad Neylon on pit lane.

Jamie Klein & Davey Euwema contributed to this report

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John