The Porsche of Manthey EMA will start from position three for the 12 hours of Bathurst. Matt Campbell ran the third-fastest time in the Top Ten Shootout at Mount Paramount with 02:01.173. Maro Engel set the fastest lap in LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 Hour history during a thrilling qualifying session at Mount Panorama. The German laid down a 2:01.0536s to dominate proceedings in the #999 GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG. Broc Feeney and Supercheap Auto emerged as GruppeM’s nearest challenger by initially trading fastest times with Engel. Indeed, the top-three – which also featured Manthey EMA’s Matt Campbell – was covered by less than a tenth until Engel extended his advantage to 0.2164s after the chequered flag had flown.

Mercedes-AMG looked set to lock out the top-three places in penultimate practice at Mount Panorama this morning before Matt Campbell banged in the fastest time of the weekend with just five minutes remaining.

The Manthey EMA Porsche he shares with Mathieu Jaminet and Thomas Preining had briefly led earlier in the 60-minute session before a flurry of quick times – headed by Jules Gounon – pushed the car down the order.

The Frenchman was the first driver to dip below 2m03s and comfortably faster than anyone had managed on Friday. But his 2m02.8282s was ultimately eclipsed by the last driver to beat him at the 12 Hour.

Campbell’s 2m02.7513s was just 0.07s quicker than the SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG, which might have gone quicker still in Luca Stolz’s hands after the German set purple first and second sectors.

Still, Gounon’s time remained just fast enough to keep Richie Stanaway at bay after the Kiwi lapped Supercheap Auto’s entry three hundredths slower, while Raffaele Marciello completed Mercedes-AMG’s two-three-four by setting GruppeM’s best time on his final run.

The best of the Audis was next up, MPC’s Pro entry beating the Silver class example driven by David Reynolds.

BMW and WRT continued to acclimatise to the unique demands of Mount Panorama by lapping eighth and ninth.

SunEnergy1 set the pace in the sixth and final practice session at the LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 Hour this morning despite Luca Stolz noticeably lifting on his final flying lap.

The German’s 2m02.4337s was two tenths faster than Mercedes-AMG stablemate Maro Engel could manage in GruppeM’s entry, while Chaz Mostert also lost a noticeable amount of time in the final sector en route to the third quickest time aboard Sportsbet Team MPC’s Audi.

FP5’s fastest driver, Matt Campbell, fell two hundredths shy of his own PB in the Manthey EMA Porsche, which ended up fourth after failing to improve in the second half of the hour-long session which was punctuated by a red flag period to recover the Sin from Skyline.