Auer stuns Bathurst with brilliant 12 Hour pole for Mercedes

LUCAS Auer has stunned Mount Panorama with a brilliant charge to Allan Simonsen Pole Award honours at the Meguiar's Bathurst 12 Hour for Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG.

The Austrian emerged with the benchmark throughout the 15-minute Pirelli Pole Battle, claiming Mercedes-AMG's first pole since 2023 with a rapid 2:01.2760s.

The time is the second-fastest pole time in Bathurst 12 Hour history, pipping Shane van Gisbergen's 2016 pole time of 2:01.2860s, and beaten only by Maro Engel's superb 2:00.8819s.

Auer beat provisional pole-sitter Ricardo Feller by 0.125s, with the #183 Jamec Racing/Team MPC Audi second with a 2:01.4010s ahead of two-time pole winner Engel.

"Big thank you to my teammates, to my team, Mercedes-AMG for a great car, and I'm really looking forward to the race tomorrow," Auer said.

"It's a really legendary place and such a cool circuit, I'm really looking forward to the race."

Waters set the first representative time, a 2:03.0360s, ahead of Holdsworth (2:03.1150s) and provisional pole-sitter Feller (2:03.5290s). Stolz was fourth with a 2:04.5630s as drivers began to build.

Feller lit up the timing screens in the first sector, with Stolz powering to the top with a 2:02.4520s. In response, Waters dropped in a 2:02.0040s, before Feller was first into the 2:01s with a 2:01.7630s ahead of Heinrich (2:01.8920s).

By that stage, Engel, Auer and van der Linde hadn't set a lap, but the Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG loomed large in the face of the leaders.

With four minutes remaining, Auer recorded a stunning 2:01.2760s, leaving his rivals with a literal mountain to climb in the final minutes.

Feller (2:01.4010s), Engel (2:01.6890s), Stolz (2:01.9040s) joined Auer in the 2:01s, before Mostert (2:01.7730s) and van der Linde (2:01.7330s) both jumped to fourth.

Waters improved, albeit to a 2:01.9510s to remain ninth, before attention turned to the final laps. Engel (2:01.5720s), Mostert (2:01.7080s) and van der Linde (2:01.6930s) all improved, but neither had a response for Auer.

Van der Linde looked set to be on his way to the top after setting the fastest first sector of the session, however the South African's time faded over the top of the mountain, with the defending Allan Simonsen Pole Award winner to start fourth.

Mostert would end up fifth ahead of impressive Bathurst rookie Laurin Heinrich in the #91 Porsche, which also claimed Pro-Am pole, ahead of two-time 12 Hour winner Luca Stolz in the SunEnergy1 Mercedes.

Scott Andrews qualified eighth in the #44 Audi running in Pro-Am, with Cam Waters and Lee Holdsworth rounding out the top 10 in the #9 Audi, Holdsworth also claiming the pole in the Bronze class.

The 2025 Meguiar's Bathurst 12 Hour will commence at 5:45am AEST on Sunday.