P3 for MANN-FILTER at the Bathurst 12 Hour

Sydney, February 06^th 2023 – In the first of the Intercontinental GT Challenge series, the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, not even 1.5 seconds separated the MANN-FILTER Mamba from the podium victory and finally left her the third place.

Fairytale like was the beginning of the 12-hour Bathurst race this year for the MANN-FILTER Mercedes. In the practice and qualifying sessions, Maro Engel (GER) impressed with a new lap record in the Bathurst 12 Hour. In the subsequent Top Ten Shootout, he achieved a new fastest time with the first-ever lap under 2m01s driven at the circuit and secured his second Allan Simonsen Trophy. As a result, Engel put the #999 Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing on pole-position for the race which began at 5:45 am the next morning.

In the process, Maro Engel, Raffaele Marciello (SUI) and Mikaël Grenier (CAN) with the MANN-FILTER Mamba in P1 managed to continuously extend their lead over the following race cars.

It was the last Pitstop, the last Driver Change where the yellow green GruppeM Racing team was holding a 30-second lead until a faulty modem caused data logging issues in the MANN-FILTER bolide with the #999. The team had to change the modem which brought the rival team enough time to take the lead. After a tremendous catch-up Engel in his last stint clashed into the leading car which cost a drive through penalty and resulted in P3.