Where Auer's stunning pole time stacks up in 12 Hour history

LUCAS Auer's remarkable 2:01.2760s pole time in this afternoon's Pirelli Pole Battle has seen the Austrian enter the list of the fastest drivers in Bathurst 12 Hour history.

Auer recorded the second pole in three years for Mercedes-AMG, with the German manufacturer's last pole position coming in 2023 thanks to Maro Engel's staggering 2:00.8819s.

Such was the stunning speed of the #77 Craft-Bamboo racing Mercedes that Auer will share with Jayden Ojeda and Maximilian Götz, that Auer recorded the second-fastest pole time in the history of the 12 Hour.

It's been a remarkable Bathurst debut for the Austrian, who was scheduled to compete with Craft-Bamboo in 2023 before breaking his back in an accident at the 24 Hours of Daytona mere days before the 12 Hour.

Whilst Engel remains the only driver to record a 120 second lap time in Bathurst 12 Hour practice or qualifying, Auer's time today pipped Shane van Gisbergen's 2016 pole time set in a McLaren 650S GT3 at a 2:01.2860s.

Top five Bathurst 12 Hour pole times

A rapid Pirelli Pole Battle

Auer's time was the highlight of the first ever Pirelli Pole Battle held at the 12 Hour, however a look through the rest of the 10 drivers to duke it out for pole shows a remarkable trend.

Of the 10 drivers to compete in the Pole Battle, four competed in last year's Top Ten Shootout, namely Sheldon van der Linde, Maro Engel, Luca Stolz, and Ricardo Feller.

Of the four drivers, Feller's improvement year-on-year is remarkable, finding more than one and a quarter seconds on his time from 2024, and leaping from sixth on the grid in 2024 to the front row in 2025.

Although van der Linde found almost three tenths on his pole time from last year, the South African will only start from fourth tomorrow, an indication of just how hot the pace was in the Pirelli Pole Battle.

The top nine drivers (down to Cam Waters in the #222 Mercedes) all set a 2:01s lap time, and each of those laps would've been enough for pole last year - Waters setting a 2:01.9510s.

The only driver outside of the 2:01's was Lee Holdsworth, whose 2:02.1700s would've still been enough to see the #9 Audi on the front row in 2024.

The Pirelli Pole Battle might be a different spin on a top 10 qualifying run-off, but it delivered a high intensity session with some staggeringly fast lap times.

2024 vs 2025 key Bathurst Pole Battle times