Mostert, BMW Team Schnitzer on Bathurst 12H Pole

Photo: Bathurst 12H

Chaz Mostert will start Sunday’s Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour from the pole after storming to the top spot in the Pirelli Top 10 Shootout Saturday afternoon at Mt. Panorama.

The BMW Team Schnitzer driver reeled off a 2:01.934 lap time in the No. 43 BMW M6 GT3 to claim the Allan Simonsen Pole Award trophy for the first time.

It marked the second pole position for the German manufacturer in the event’s history.

Mostert edged out the Qualifying 2 pace-setting No. 22 Jamec Pem Audi R8 LMS of Kelvin van der Linde by 0.235 seconds.

“We were close last year in the Pro-Am entry but it’s pretty special to go to the pointy end and actually get the pole this time with Schnitzer Motorsport and the BMW Motorsport group,” said Mostert.

“For me it’s amazing, the boys gave enough trust in me to qualify the car and we made the car better and better over practice. It’s a lot of hard work to fly a car all the way from Germany to put it on the pole so it’s fantastic.”

The Australian will share driving duties in tomorrow’s Intercontinental GT Challenge season-opener with DTM aces Augusto Farfus and Marco Wittmann as BMW seeks its first overall win in the race’s GT3 era. 

Christopher Haase made it two Audis in the top-three, pedaling his No. 74 Jamec Pem entry to a 2:02.434 lap time, ahead of the No. 777 Buik Motorworks Lamborghini Gallardo R-EX, which qualified an impressive fourth overall and quickest of the Pro-Am competitors.

Luke Youlden’s 2:03.235 lap edged out the fastest of the McLaren 650S GT3s, qualified by Scott McLaughlin in fifth.

Strakka Racing’s Cameron Waters, who initially missed the Top 10 Shootout, will roll off from sixth in his No. 55 Mercedes-AMG GT3.

It came after the No. 100 BMW Team SRM entry, which set the third quickest time in Qualifying 2, was excluded from the session due to an overboost infraction.

The BMW will start from the rear of the 50-car field. 

Robin Frijns qualified the No. 37 WRT Audi in seventh, with Shane van Gisbergen eighth in the No. 58 YNA Autosport McLaren and Steven Kane nine in the No. 17 Bentley Continental GT3.

The No. 12 Competition Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Matt Campbell, meanwhile, completed the top-10, following a small mistake for the newly named Porsche Young Professional on his hot lap.

The U.S.-based privateer squad, however, was the only Porsche entrant to make it into the Shootout, out-qualifying the pair of factory-crewed lineups from Manthey Racing and Craft-Bamboo Racing.

Pole-sitters in Classes B, C and I, meanwhile, were determined following the first qualifying session.

The No. 4 Grove Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car of Ben Barker will start from Class B pole, thanks to a 2:08.071 lap set early in the session.

Class C pole honors went to the No. 30 Boat Works Racing BMW M4 GT4 of Aaron Seton, while the debuting No. 91 MARC Cars Australia Mustang will start from the front in the Invitational class

The Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour is set to get underway Sunday at 5:45 a.m. local time. 

RESULTS: Top 10 Shootout

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