Intercontinental GT Challenge, Bathurst 12 Hour, Australia
Putting in a strong performance in qualifying for the 12-hour race at Bathurst/Australia, Porsche Young Professional Matt Campbell (Australia) secured a good starting position for his Competition Motorsports team. In the over 500-hp Porsche 911 GT3 R, designed in Weissach by Porsche Motorsport for worldwide GT3 series on the basis of the 911 GT3 RS production sports car, the local hero initially posted the fifth quickest qualifying time. In the Top 10 Shootout amongst the best, he then set the tenth fastest time and thus takes up the opening round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge on Sunday from the fifth grid row on the legendary 6.213-kilometre Mount Panorama Circuit. His teammates are Patrick Long (USA) as well as Australians David Calvert-Jones and Alex Davison. Last year, Matt Campbell scored second overall and won the Pro-Am class with this team.
Three other Porsche teams field the 911 GT3 R in the strongly supported 12-hour race on the storied racetrack at the foothills of the Blue Mountains in the state of New South Wales. The two-time Le Mans winner and reigning long distance world champion Earl Bamber (New Zealand), who shares the cockpit of the #991 Porsche campaigned by Craft Bamboo Racing with Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) and Kévin Estre (France), claimed the 18th spot in qualifying. In the 911 GT3 R run by Black Swan Racing, Timothy Pappas (USA), Marc Lieb (Germany), Jeroen Bleekemolen (Netherlands) and Luca Stolz (Germany) secured the 25th spot. 26th on the grid is occupied by Romain Dumas (France), Dirk Werner (Germany) and Frédéric Makowiecki (France), who compete for Manthey-Racing.
Class B pole position went to Grove Motorsport with the 911 GT3 Cup, shared by Ben Barker (Great Britain) with Australians Stephen und Brenton Grove. On second is the 911 GT3 Cup run by the Carrera Cup Asia squad with Paul Tresidder (Australia), Chris van der Drift (New Zealand) as well as Andrew Tang and Chen Yi-Fan from China.
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