Engel Breaks Qualifying Lap Record Ahead of Top 10 Shootout

Photo: Kevin Pecks/SRO

Maro Engel’s new qualifying lap record for the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour has helped put GruppeM Racing on top heading into this afternoon’s Top 10 Shootout.

Engel stormed to a best lap of 2:01.053 around Mount Panorama in Saturday’s second qualifying session that he shared with Raffaele Marciello.

The German’s time was two-tenths faster than previous lap record holder Shane van Gisbergen from the 2016 edition of Australia’s international endurance race.

Aggregate times, from the two quickest drivers per car, were not released by event officials but instead the cars that advance to Top 10 Shootout.

In addition to the No. 999 GruppeM Mercedes, it includes Mercedes from SunEnergy1 Racing, the No. 888 Triple Eight entry, No. 912 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R and No. 32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3, which completed the top-five in qualifying.

The No. 46 WRT BMW, No. 74 Melbourne Performance Centre Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, No. 65 MPC Audi, No. 77 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes and No. 44 Valmont Racing Mercedes, which is competing in Silver class, completed the top-ten.

Q1, which was reserved for amateur drivers competing in all classes except Pro, saw a red flag early on for the No. 111 MARC Cars Australia entry of Grant Donaldson, who ran into the Turn 1 barriers.

It was the only incident to result in a stoppage across both qualifying sessions.

The Top 10 Shootout, which will be split between the two sessions for five cars apiece, gets underway at 4:10 p.m. local time.

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