JAMEC Pem Racing have secured their spot in the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour Top 10 Shootout after ending qualifying on top thanks to a rocket quick lap from the #22 Audi R8 LMS GT3 of Kelvin van der Linde.
The South African Audi gun lapped the circuit in a 2:02.345 to take the top spot in a thrilling final qualifying session, with only 0.6s covering first to tenth place.
Second quickest in the session was the #43 BMW Team Schnitzer M6 GT3 driven by Chaz Mostert, which jumped up the order in the dying stages of the session.
BMW Team SRM grabbed third spot and will be the third last car out in the Top 10 Shootout with Philipp Eng setting a 2:02.527, only 0.1s off the fastest time.
McLaren hold fourth spot courtesy of Scott McLaughlin’s time in the #47 YNA Autosport 650s GT3, while fifth place was taken out by the #12 Competition Motorsports Porsche of Matt Campbell.
The remaining positions in the Top 10 Shootout are occupied by; sixth – #58 YNA McLaren, seventh – #74 Jamec Pem Audi, eighth – #37 WRT Audi, ninth – #777 Buik Motorsports Lamborghini and tenth – #17 Bentley.
When the session got underway, Christopher Haase banged out an early quick lap in the #74 Jamec Pem Audi just as van der Linde dropped into the 2:02s for the first time in the session aboard the sister #22 Jamec Pem car.
Proceedings were then halted as the red flag was brought out only moments later when the #9 Hallmarc Audi of Lee Holdsworth crashed on the exit of Griffins Bend – Turn 2.
Holdsworth lost the back end of the car, which speared into the right-hand concrete wall, badly damaging the front end of the R8.
After a 10-minute stoppage to recover the car, the session resumed with 11-minutes on the clock with a ‘dash for the cash’ imminent.
Van der Linde improved on his time by less than a tenth of a second as the order behind him chopped and changed, but the Audi driver was not touched for the remainder of qualifying.
Just at the checkered flag, the #32 JBS Australia Lamborghini ground to a halt at the top of the Mountain.
“I think it was pretty tight there in the end, I tried pretty hard out there,” said Mostert.
“At least we got in the [top] ten, so I’m looking forward to having the track to myself this afternoon and being one of the last guys out.
“Its good to have Schnitzer here, its been 30-years so its awesome to put them up the pointy end.”
The Top 10 Shootout begins at 4:10pm local time, with Live coverage on channel 7mate kicking off at 4pm.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL SESSION RESULTS.
By: Slade Perrins.
Source: http://www.bathurst12hour.com.au
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