The opening Monochrome GT4 Australia qualifying sessions of the season proved close, yet dramatic at Round 1 of the Shannons SpeedSeries at Phillip Island as the grid was set for Race 1 and 2.
Silver Cup
A stunning lap from Tom Hayman placed the Method Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 on pole, continuing his strong Silver Cup winning form from 2024.
Hayman’s 1m 33.673s was enough to score pole for Race 1 by 0.241s from yesterday’s pacesetter Blake Purdie driving the Nippy’s Audi R8 LMS GT4, with Nash Morris completing the top five for TekworkX Motorsport in its Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS.
Setting pole in the corresponding event last year, Rylan Gray was forced to settle for fourth steering the Miedecke Motorsport/Lubrimaxx Ford Mustang GT4 ensuring four manufacturers featured in the top four positions. Nathan Morcom rounded out the top five in the second Method Motorsport McLaren.
Gray’s co-driver George Miedecke returned the Mustang to the top for Race 2 achieving a 1m 34.100s to edge Daniel Price in the Nippy’s Audi by 0.374s. In his first start for Method Motorsport, Max Geoghegan scored third in the McLaren Artura GT4 ahead of Zoe Woods in the TekworkX Motorsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS.
Gomersall Motorsport’s Jake Camilleri completed the top five in a Mercedes-AMG GT4.
Key contender Jarrod Hughes had an incident during the opening session and the resultant damage to the JGI Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes-AMG GT4 prevented the entry from re-entering the session in addition to Summer Rintoule's segment.
Silver-Am Cup
It was a Ford Mustang GT4 1-2 in Silver-Am Cup as Aaron Seton led the way in the Gomersall Motorsport Ford Mustang GT4 from Cameron Crick for DA Campbell Transport in the first qualifying segment.
Seton’s time of 1m 34.549s eclipsed Crick’s effort by 0.289s, with Lochie Dalton completing the top three in the Buckby Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4. A strong performance by Daniel Frougas placed the GWR Australia Toyota Supra GT4 Evo2 ahead of the Zagame Autosport McLaren Artura GT4 of Josh Buchan.
Jed Wallis led the way in the second session, but ended it in the concrete wall on the front straight leading to serious damage to the Wallis Motorsport Ford Mustang GT4. A 1m 36.081s did the job for Wallis before the incident occurred exiting the final curve. The team is endeavouring to get the Mustang repaired for Race 1.
Debutant Wallis led another making his first starting Dean Campbell in the DA Campbell Transport Ford Mustang GT4, while Jason Gomersall completed a top three clean sweep for the Blue Oval driving the Gomersall Motorsport Ford Mustang GT4.
Tim Berryman repeated Frougas’ performance in the earlier session scoring fourth in the Toyota Supra Evo2 GT4 and Glenn Nirwan recovered from an incident in practice to set the fifth fastest time in the Team Soutar Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4.
Am Cup
Randall Racing took pole in Race 1, but it wasn’t defending Am Cup winner Jacob Lawrence as Jamie Augustine took the honours in the team’s second BMW M4 GT4 G82.
Augustine’s time of 1m 37.012s just eclipsed Chris Lillis in the Method Motorsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS by 0.181s.
Jamie Arratoon was the lead AR Nineteen Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 in third, but the team had mixed fortunes following a spin for Mark Griffith exiting Turn 2.
The Gomersall Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 F82 of Glenn Walker was fourth ahead of the 2024 Am Cup winner Lawrence, who rounded out the top five.
Nathan Callaghan set the pace in the Method Motorsport Porsche to score pole at a 1m 37.109s from Lawrence and Arratoon.
Walker was consistent in fourth and Chris Whittaker proved quick in the Mark Cotterell Motorsport Ginetta G56 GT4 to complete the top five.
The opening Monochrome GT4 Australia race of the season at Phillip Island 2:30pm AEDT live on 7mate, 7plus and for international viewers via GTWorld’s YouTube channel.