Qualifying for Round 2 of the Monochrome GT4 Australia at Sydney Motorsport Park provided plenty of surprises as the superb spread of manufacturers contested the Silver, Silver-Am and Am Cup pole positions.
Qualifying was divided into two 15-minute sessions to decide the grids for Races 1 and 2.
Silver Cup
Jarrod Hughes scored JGI Triple Eight Race Engineering’s maiden Monochrome GT4 Australia pole position in Qualifying 1, setting a 1m 33.051s in the Mercedes-AMG GT4.
The gap back to Method Motorsport’s Tom Hayman was a comfortable 0.505s in his McLaren Artura GT4 as Blake Purdie was next in Silver Cup driving the Phillip Island race winning Nippy’s Audi R8 LMS GT4.
The Lubrimaxx with Miedecke Motorsport Ford Mustang GT4 of Rylan Gray was fourth ahead of Nash Morris for TekworkX Motorsport in the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS.
Max Geoghegan flipped the script in the second 15-minute segment to score pole for Sunday’s Race 2 in the Method Motorsport McLaren after achieving a 1m 33.654s.
The margin was just 0.247s to the Central West Prestige BMW M4 GT4 G82 of Tim Leahey, with George Miedecke in the Lubrimaxx with Miedecke Motorsport Mustang and Jake Camilleri’s Gomersall Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 following.
Rounding out the top five was Summer Rintoule in the JGI Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes-AMG.
Silver-Am Cup
Aaron Seton started qualifying well for Gomersall Racing by achieving pole for Race 1 in the opening segment as he set a 1m 33.706s in the Ford Mustang GT4.
However, second was a surprise in the form of Lachlan Mineeff in the Fisherman’s Wharf Seafood Ginetta G55 GT4 continuing its giant killing performance from Phillip Island to be 0.074s off the pole time.
Rewarding the Tufflift Racing TSM team following a rapid repairs to its McLaren Artura GT4 following an opening round crash was Zac Soutar in third ahead of DA Campbell Transport’s Cameron Crick in another Mustang, with Hugo Allan rounding out the top five driving the Game Over Toyota Supra GT4 Evo2.
Jason Gomersall was able to continue co-driver Seton’s form by achieving pole for Race 2 in Silver-Am Cup in the Gomersall Motorsport Mustang.
Glenn Nirwan was second in the Tufflift Team TSM McLaren from the GWR Australia Toyota of Tim Berryman, with Dean Campbell achieving fourth steering the DA Campbell Transport Mustang.
Rounding out the top five was Steve Jakic driving the Thunder Buddies Racing BMW M4 GT4 G82.
Am Cup
The first meeting for 99Motorsport resulted in Marcus LaDelle taking the team's maiden pole for Race 1 in his Ford Mustang GT4 as the former Super2 driver led the way in the opening segment for Am Cup.
LaDelle set a 1m 35.404s to pip Method Motorsport’s Shane Smollen in his Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS, with Jamie Augustine completing the top three in the Randall Racing BMW M4 GT4 G82.
Bailey Love in his Mercedes-AMG GT4 was fourth ahead of the second Method Motorsport Porsche of Chris Lillis.
The second segment of qualifying proved a highlight for Smollen and Randall Racing’s Jacob Lawrence as the pair duelled for pole as it fell in favour of the reigning Silver-Am winner to the tune of 0.234s.
Nathan Callaghan scored third in the Method Motorsport Porsche from 99Motorsport’s Jarrod Keyte and Glenn Walker’s Gomersall Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 F82.
Monochrome GT4 Australia will race into the sunset at the Shannons SpeedSeries GT Festival Sydney, with the opening race due to commence at 4:40pm AEST.
If attending the track, the very first Monochrome GT4 Australia grid walk will begin at 4:15pm AEST, but if not in attendance viewers can watch the action on 7plus and internationally via GT World YouTube.