Under dark skies, a floodlit circuit and awfully wet conditions, BMW has set the pace in both Monochrome GT4 Australia qualifying sessions at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Competing for top spot across the series’ two one-hour races, the 21-car field ventured out for two 10 minute sessions, setting the order for the races later this weekend.
In Qualifying 1 (setting the grid for Sunday’s second race), Queenslander Ryder Quinn grit his teeth on the tricky wet track to record the fastest time, ensuring he will start from position one.
Quinn was a huge 0.7s ahead of Pro-Am rival and category debutant Lachlan Evennett in his TekwokX Porsche.
It was a Pro-Am one-two-three in the outright order, with Method Motorsport’s Lachlan Mineeff taking third on the grid.
The best of the Silver Class entries was Tim Leahey in his BMW M4 example, while Jamie Augustine put in a strong session to qualify ninth overall and first in the Am class. The Augustine BMW was delayed in practice after the M4's fire extinguisher unexpectedly went off, causing a large clean up effort from the Randall Racing team.
In the second qualifying session (for Saturday’s one hour race), Cody Burcher put Leahey’s BMW on the pole in what turned out to be a Silver Class shut-out.
Mustang ace Rylan Gray was second fastest, ahead of fellow Silver Class drivers Tom Hayman (McLaren), Antonio Astuti (Mercedes) and Jake Camilleri (Mercedes).
The best of the Pro-Am drivers was Shane Smollen who will line his Porsche up in sixth, while Jacob Lawrence will start seventh and best of the Am Class competitors.
Despite the wet conditions, only one red flag was produced in the two sessions after Peter Lawrence was caught out early in the session.
The first of the Monochrome GT4 Australia races at Sydney Motorsport Park will be held tomorrow afternoon, starting at 4:40pm AEDT.
Australian fans can watch via 7 Plus while international viewers can catch the action live on GT World’s YouTube channel.