Monochrome GT4 Australia continued its weekend at Queensland Raceway with an entertaining double qualifying session that saw a mixture of experienced campaigners and first-timers take Pole Position for their respective classes.
Silver Cup
Blake Purdie and Jobe Stewart continued their hot form from The Bend as the latter put the #48 Purdie Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4 on Pole Position thanks to a brilliant lap.
Ending the session with a 1:12.433, Purdie had replaced Jarrod Hughes at the top of the timesheets with eight minutes to go, remaining there for the rest of Qualifying 1 after no one got to within two tenths of his time.
Hughes will start today’s race alongside Purdie after keeping the #87 Method Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 in second, while fellow stablemate Tom Hayman guided the other Method Motorsport McLaren to third for the session.
The order was switched in Qualifying 2, as Hughes’ co-driver Jett Murray claimed pole position at the expense of Mason Harvey in the #227 Multispares Racing Ford Mustang GT4 with one tenth splitting the difference.
Remarkably, Chris White and Stewart ended with the exact same lap time of 1:13.311 at the conclusion of the session to end up third and fourth - with the #9 GWR GR Supra GT4 EVO2 ending up third having set the lap on his first attempt, while Stewart set his time on his seventh lap.
Unfortunately, the Audi of Purdie and Stewart came to a halt towards the conclusion of the session, bringing out the red flag and ending their good form.
Silver-Am
Norganic Protein’s Caleb Paterson and Scott Green will start today’s race leading the class after the former claimed pole by just seven hundredths of a second over CAMM Quarries/Concrete Racing’s Lachlan Evennett.
Whilst there was very little separating the #28 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS and the #88 GR Supra GT4 EVO2 by the end, Paterson’s lap time of 1:12.996 was never truly tested as he led the way for the class throughout the whole session.
Highlighting the diversity of the class, there were four different manufacturers in the top four spots in qualifying as Zac Soutar guided the #75 Tufflift Racing by TSM McLaren Artura GT4 to third, while the #3 Thunder Buddies/Black Diamond BMW M4 GT4 G82 of Ryder Quinn and Steve Jakic will start tonight’s race in fourth.
In Qualifying 2, it was a new face on pole as Jarrod Keyte picked up his best ever qualifying session behind the wheel of the #21 Ekebol MPC Ford Mustang GT4 he shares with new co-driver Joshua Thomas.
Posting a time of 1:13.890, Keyte ended up almost two tenths quicker than Soutar’s teammate Glenn Nirwan in the #75 McLaren, while Paterson’s co-driver Scott Green ended up third for the session, almost eight tenths off the Mustang.
With Andrew Torti in fourth for the session behind the wheel of the #88 GR Supra, the class saw a similar top four in both sessions.
In the Am Cup,
There were two different pole sitters in the Am Cup as Glenn Walker picked up where he left off yesterday and led the way in Qualifying 1 before Chris Lillis edged him out in Qualifying 2.
Having topped the timesheets in both sessions yesterday, Walker in the Gomersall Motorsport Ford Mustang GT4 continued to set the benchmark in the class throughout Qualifying 1.
However, in the end, his pole-setting lap time of 1:13.815 was just over half a tenth quicker than the #64 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS of Nathan Callaghan - with very little the difference when it mattered.
When it came to Qualifying 2, Callaghan’s co-driver Lillis managed to get the job done as he edged out Walker by just nine thousandths of a second - setting up an intriguing battle across the next two races.
Posting the third-fastest time in both qualifying sessions was Lillis and Callaghan’s Method Motorsport teammate Ryan Sorenson in the #11 McLaren Artura GT4.
Monochrome GT4 Australia will be back on track at 5pm AEST for the category’s first night race of the year.