Kiwi racer Shane Van Gisbergen sets new Mt Panorama lap record in McLaren 650S GT3
The 2016 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour kicked off at 5.45am this morning with Kiwi racer, Shane Van Gisbergen, starting from pole position in his McLaren 650S GT3 after setting a new lap record.
SHANE VAN GISBERGEN set a new lap record yesterday in qualifying ahead of todays 2016 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour. The Kiwi V8 Supercars and GT3 racer drove the #59 Tekno Autosports McLaren 650S GT3 to pole position recording 2m 01.286secs.
There are four McLaren 650S GT3 cars running in the 12 hour and all started the race inside the top 10. Of his pole position start and record-setting lap Van Gisbergen said: “The car has been amazing all weekend. We’ve mainly been doing race set ups on high fuel so it’s been pretty good. With qualifying we just put it all on the table and did what we could. It was pretty awesome to see that number [2.01.286] come up on the dash, I was pretty pumped about that. We’re not really excelling over the top but the car is good in every sector.”
Team mate, Alvaro Parente said: “It’s great, I’m loving it. The track is phenomenal. It’s a big challenge. The qualifying was great, Shane did a mega lap that looked really, really good. We’ve been looking alright so far, Jonno, us three, we’re looking forward to it. We have a long 12 hours in front of us, but we’re looking forward to it.”
At the time of writing, Shane Van Gisbergen was still leading the Bathurst 12 Hour. For live coverage, click here.
