Monochrome GT4 Australia has completed Qualifying for EVENTelec GT Festival Queensland as both sessions proved highly entertaining affairs.
Across both Qualifying 1 and 2, there was a diverse mix of manufacturers who all had the opportunities to take Pole Position for their respective classes, with the battles going right down to the wire.
Silver Cup
An entertaining Qualifying 1 ended up with Purdie Racing’s Blake Purdie guiding the Audi R8 GT4 to Pole Position thanks to an impressive penultimate lap time of 1:13.514, which knocked Jarrod Hughes off provisional pole in the process.
Having shown plenty of pace yesterday, Purdie proved quite fast throughout Saturday morning’s 15-minute session, eventually snatching Pole Position from Hughes by just seven hundredths of a second.
Hughes had occupied provisional pole for much of Qualifying, having posted his best time of 1:13.586 midway through the session.
While Method Motorsport’s Tom Hayman ended up third for the session in the #25 McLaren Artura GT4, teammate Max Geoghegan put the car on Pole Position in Qualifying 2.
Like Purdie, Geoghegan waited until his last few laps to get the job done – his final time of 1:13.455 more than two and a half tenths faster than the Miedecke Motorsport with Lubrimaxx Ford Mustang GT4 of George Miedecke.
Rounding out the top three for the session was Purdie's teammate Daniel Price, who ended up almost a second behind Miedecke.
Silver Am
Monochrome GT4 Australia series debutant Ryan Hansford has started off his maiden campaign by securing Silver-Am Pole Position in Qualifying 2, while Aaron Seton proved too strong in Qualifying 1.
Behind the wheel of the Gommersall Motorsport Ford Mustang GT4, Seton ended up edging out GWR Australia’s Daniel Frougas in the Toyota Supra EVO 2 by half a tenth, while Hansford’s Multispares Racing teammate Aaron Cameron ended up in third place.
It proved a solid day out for the new team, with Hansford’s last-lap Pole Position in Qualifying 2 coming at the expense of Frougas’ teammate Tim Berryman – less than one tenth of a second separating the two drivers.
The pair were neck and neck throughout the session, but in the end it was the Ford Mustang driver Hansford who got the better of Berryman, while Seton’s teammate Jason Gommersall rounded out the top three for Qualifying.
Am Cup
99motorsport’s Marcus LaDelle and Method Motorsport’s Shane Smollen both shared the spoils in Qualifying, with the former taking out the first session and Smollen going fastest in the second.
Qualifying 1 proved close between the top three drivers as LaDelle guided his Ford Mustang GT4 to a time of 1:14.385 – just two tenths quicker than the Method Motorsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS of Nathan Callaghan, who was second fastest.
Smollen just missed out on P2 in class by three hundredths of a second as the #1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS driver settled for third.
The multiple GT Festival Sydney race winner bounced back in Q2, as he topped the class by just six hundredths of a second over reigning class champion Jacob Lawrence.
Both drivers posted their fastest times midway through the session, however remained first and second respectively as Callaghan’s teammate Chris Lillis ended up third in the session.
Monochrome GT4 Australia holds its first race of the EVENTelec GT Festival Queensland later this afternoon at 3:50pm AEST.