Bathurst 12H: Mercedes driver Engel claims pole with record lap

A record-breaking Maro Engel has powered to pole position to secure his second Allan Simonsen Trophy.

Engel secured pole position for Mercedes-AMG, with Supercars racer Broc Feeney taking second place just two tenths of a second behind.

Australian endurance specialist Matt Campbell placed third, followed by defending champion Jules Gounon in fourth.

Valentino Rossi, who impressed in his debut run on Friday, handed over qualifying duties to Belgian driver Maxime Martin who set the eighth-fastest time.

Chaz Mostert, who set the pace in the first part of the shootout, secured sixth place with a lap time of 2 minutes and 1.86 seconds.

Engel’s record-breaking lap was more than two seconds faster than the previous Bathurst 12 Hour benchmark, set by Shane Van Gisbergen in 2016.

His time was also two tenths of a second faster than the previous Supercars benchmark set by Chaz Mostert in 2021.

The #999 GruppeM Mercedes-AMG driver reset his own 12 Hour lap record en route to pole.

Engel clocked a stunning 2:00.8819s to undercut his qualifying record — a 2:01.0836s — set earlier on Saturday.

The German driver was forced to stave off an impressive riposte from Feeney, who had to reins of the #888 Supercheap Auto Mercedes.

Campbell, the 2020 pole winner, threw his name into the discussion late on.

Prior to Engel’s final flyer, the top three were covered by just 0.08s.

However, Engel turned up the wick and clocked the first 2:00s lap in 12 Hour history.

“It’s amazing,” Engel said.

“I’m lost for words. The grip level this weekend has been amazing.

“Big, big thank you to the team, to these guys [co-drivers Raffaele Marciello and Mikael Grenier] for trusting me.

“And to the team for an amazing car, it was a pleasure.”

Sunday’s LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 Hour will commence at 5:45am local time.

Results: Top Ten Shootout

Results: Qualifying – Part 2 Individual drivers