Sheldon van der Linde, at the wheel of the #32 BMW M4 GT3 he shares with Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts, put Team WRT on pole for the Repco Bathurst 12 Hour, the 24-year-old South African driver lapping the 6.213 km Mount Panorama circuit in 2:01.9810 on his second of just three laps in the Top Ten Shootout following the two 15-minute qualifying sessions.
Just over a quarter of a second behind was Broc Feeney in the #888 National Storage Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo he shares with Will Brown and Mikaël Grenier.
Completing the quickest three in the Shootout was Maro Engel driving the #130 Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Mercedes.
Sheldon van der Linde wins the Allan Simonsen Pole Award, a trophy awarded in honour of the Danish race driver who tragically lost his life at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2013.
“Honestly man, I have massive goosebumps right now,” said pole-sitter van der Linde. “Just coming back to Bathurst and driving this track is a massive honour, for sure. To be on pole in my second running in Bathurst is obviously unexpected, for sure.
“My brother is here as well, trying to catch me in the race. The pressure’s on, definitely. My teammates have done an amazing job so far.
“(I was) very happy with the lap, (with) no mistakes from my side and I think it’s a really good race car.”
(Photo: Ian Chicken)
Alessio Picariello took class pole in the Pro-Am category, having put in a 2:03.0795 in the #911 The Bend Manthey Racing EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R, to finish a little over a 1/100th of a second ahead of Jordan Love in the #88 Triple Eight JMR Mercedes. Picariello and Love completed the table in the Top Ten Shoot Out.
In the Silver category, qualifying honours went to Luke Youlden in the #44 Valmont Racing / Tigani Motorsport Mercedes. Youlden lapped the #44 Mercedes he shares with Sergio Pires, Brad Shiels and Marcel Zalloua in 2:03.4861, ahead of Tony D’Alberto who put in 2:04.0406 in the #93 Wall Racing Lamborghini Huracan.
In the four-car but highly competitive GT4 field, Adam Christodoulou went quickest with a 2:14.8582 in the #19 Prestige Iveco Mercedes-AMG GT4 ahead of Marcos Flack in the #25 Method Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4.
The #91 Wheels FX Marc ll V8 took pole in the Invitational class, Tim Slade lapping in 2:06.0789 ahead of Rylan Gray in the #111 MRA Motorsport /111 Racing Marc ll 2023.
The lights go out for the Repco Bathurst 12 Hour, the opening round of the 2024 Intercontinental GT Challenge, at 0545 local time (1845 GMT on Saturday February 17) on Sunday February 18.
