The Oakley Motorsports-backed Rotek Racing team will start the 2014 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hours from Class B pole position and 13th overall, after a storming qualifying run by Oliver Gavin on Saturday (8 February).

With the Mount Panorama circuit’s freshly-laid asphalt affording little grip and numerous red-flag stoppages truncating free practice, Rotek Racing’s four drivers – Gavin, Rob Huff, Kevin Gleason and Richard Meins – had a very narrow window in which to bed in to the track and refine the Oakley and OCC LASIK-liveried Audi R8 LMS’s setup.

The Nurburgring and Sonoma-based team started with a strong baseline configuration developed in 2013 and efficient work by 2012 FIA World Touring Car Champion, Huff,  in conjunction with four-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner, Gavin, ensured Rotek swiftly optimised its setup during free practice one.

Both Gleason and Meins later took to the hair-raising 6.21km circuit but were again hampered as “The Mountain” claimed yet more casualties, including four of the leading contenders.

In qualifying, the intention was for Gavin to set a benchmark time on Saturday morning and for Huff to bolster Rotek’s position with scrubbed tyres in the day’s second session, although gearbox troubles ultimately prevented the OCC LASIK-backed Huff from setting a representative time.

However, having only covered ten laps of the Mount Panorama circuit in his illustrious motorsport career, Gavin’s professionalism and experience in endurance competition shone through; his best time of 2m07.990s was more than sufficient to seal the Class B pole position for Rotek Racing by a considerable margin of over half a second.

Gavin will complete the opening stint of the 2014 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hours, which gets underway at 6.15am tomorrow (Sunday 9 February).