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Polesitting BMW excluded from qualifying
THE Terga Australia BMW M2 Competition has been stripped of their Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour pole position, following a technical rule breech discovered following the qualifying session on Saturday night.
A stunning lap from Thomas Sargent had seen the #147 BMW storm to the top spot in qualifying with what was the second quickest lap in Bathurst 6 Hour history.
However the post-qualifying checks found the car to be beneath the minimum mandated ride height, causing them to be excluded from the session.
The change to the results of qualifying elevates the #40 Btuned Euro Specialist BMW M4 driven by David Russell, Karl Begg and Nash Morris to pole position for the 2022 race, with Tim Slade and Brad Carr elevated to the outside of the front row of the grid.
The #13 Osborne Motorsport Renault Megane and was also excluded from qualifying and relegated to the rear of the grid.
It’s the second time in Bathurst 6 Hour history that the car that qualified on pole will not start the race from that position: The BMW 335i driven by Nathan Morcom and Chaz Mostert qualifying fastest in 2016 before being given a 10 grid-place penalty for a boost infringement.
The Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour starts at 11:15am AEST and will be shown live, Ad-break free and and on demand on Stan Sport.
Cameron Hill
“They always say motorsport’s full of highs and lows, and we were definitely on the highest of highs with pole yesterday, then unfortunately we were disqualified when we failed ride height after the session.
“We were a little bit surprised. We’d passed [scrutineering] all weekend, but it was very cold and we think that caught us out. At the end of the day, the rules are the rules and it has all been fixed for today’s race.
“We know we’ve got an awesome car, Tom’s did a stellar lap and he’ll jump in for the first stint.
“We’ll take it as it comes and work our way forward.
Tom Sargent
“Unfortunately, we were disqualified due to an infringement in scrutineering, but today’s a new day and it’s a long race.
“We’ll be starting down the back, but the car’s really quick, the team’s got an awesome strategy.
“Between Cameron and I, we are really looking forward to a good race where we can move up positions to have a strong result at the end of the day.”