Out of the 60 starters for the 1972 Bathurst, Murray Carter in his Phase Three GT-HO Falcon qualified in 22nd position with a time of 2:49.2s. Falcons had captured the first 4 qualiying positions, with Allan Moffat scoring pole position with a time of 2:35.8s, followed by John Goss, John French and Fred Gibson. In a first, the Bathurst race started in pouring rain, conditions not suited for the large Falcons. Peter Brock in a Torana started from 5th on the grid and had moved up to 2nd place, just behind Moffat by the end of lap 3. The rain lasted until lap 23, where the Falcons were now able to record some good lap times on the drying track.