Today marks first major event of the Australian motorsports season, the Bathurst 12 Hour from the legendary Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, Australia.
The #1 Erebus Motorsports Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 starts from pole position and are the defending race winners but the only driver returning from the 2013 winning team is Bernd Schneider. He will be joined by fellow Germans, V8 Supercars and former DTM driver Maro Engel and Nico Bastian, who will start the race. The #88 Maranello Motorsport Ferrari F458 Italia GT3 will start second with five-time Bathurst 1000 winner Craig Lowndes starting behind the wheel. He is joined by two-time Bathurst 12 Hour winner, two-time Bathurst 1000 winner and 1995 V8 Supercars champion John Bowe, Ferrari stalwart Mika Salo and Peter Edwards.
The #37 VIP Holdings McLaren MP4-12C GT3 starts third with 2008 Dubai 24 Hour winners Tony Quinn and Klark Quinn being joined by Andrew Kirkaldy and late-addition V8 Supercars Shane van Gisbergen. The #63 Erebus Motorsports Mercedes of 2009 Bathurst 1000 winner Will Davison, Jack Le Brocq and Greg Crick starts fourth with the #32 Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 of two-time Bathurst 1000 winner and 2006 V8 Supercars champion Rick Kelly, Katsumasa Cyio, Alex Buncombe and Wolfgang Reip rounding out the top five.
The top Class B car is the #23 Lamborghini Gallardo of Peter Kox, Roger Laog and David Russell starting sixth. Audis occupy the next three positions with two-time Bathurst 12 Hour winner Christopher Mies being joined by Marc Cini and Mark Eddy in the #9 Network Clothing/Hallmarc R8-LMS Ultra. Belgian Laurens Vanthoor will start the #3 Phoneix Racing Audi from eighth position and is joined by German René Rast and Swiss Rahel Frey. The Anglo-American #23 United Autosport Audi of Mark Patterson, Eric Lux and Markus Winkelhock start ninth. Rounding out the top ten is the #48 M Motorsport Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 of three-time and defending Bathurst 1000 winner Steven Richards being joined by Justin McMillan, Dale Wood and Ross Lilley.
Other notable drivers competing in the once-around-the-clock race down under are Oliver Gavin and Rob Huff (#14 Oakley Racing Audi R8 LMS), Earl Bamber (#4 Grove Group Porsche 997 GT3 Cup) and Alex Davison and Patrick Long (#12 Competition Motorsports Porsche). All these drivers are competing in Class B.
Coverage of the Bathurst 12 Hour can be found online at 2:00 p.m. ET with green flag at 2:15 p.m. ET.
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