Campbell Clinches Bathurst 12H Pole for Porsche in Shootout

Matt Campbell clinched Porsche’s maiden Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour pole position with a last gasp effort in the Top 10 Shootout for tomorrow’s Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli season-opener.

Campbell was the last driver out courtesy of topping qualifying behind the wheel of the No. 911 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R and set a 2:03.555 lap time to claim pole by 0.2 seconds in the Shootout.

The Australian’s lap beat the previous benchmark, a 2:03.780, held by Alvaro Parente in the No. 60 59Racing McLaren 720S GT3, which was good enough for second.

Campbell, the defending Bathurst 12 Hour winner, will share driving duties with Mathieu Jaminet and Patrick Pilet tomorrow.

Raffaele Marciello in the No. 999 GruppeM Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo pipped JP de Oliveira, who had held the top time for the first half of the shootout for KCMG’s sole remaining No. 18 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3.

Marciello and De Oliveira were third and fourth respectively, while Laurens Vanthoor in the No. 1 EBM Porsche 911 GT3-R was fifth for the defending race-winning team.

Maro Engel only managed sixth at the wheel of the No. 77 Team Craft Bamboo Black Falcon Mercedes Evo, while a wide moment at Turn 1 cost seventh-place man Kelvin van der Linde in the No. 222 Team Valvoline Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo.

The No. 888 Triple Eight Mercedes of Shane van Gisbergen, Marco Mapelli’s No. 63 Orange 1 FFF Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo and the Jake Dennis-driven No. 76 R-Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 completed the top 10.

Sunday’s Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour will see the green flag at 5:45 a.m. local time.

RESULTS: Qualifying