Monochrome GT4 Australia officially completed its double qualifying session on Saturday afternoon with plenty of drama to occur across all three classes.
Silver
Tom Hayman and Jett Murray took major strides towards the Silver Cup title as they scored pole position in both Qualifying sessions.
Behind the wheel of the #25 Method Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4, the current Silver Cup leaders both produced stellar laps to put themselves in the box seat for the title ahead of this weekend’s two races.
Hayman got in the car for Qualifying 1 and delivered an unbeaten 1:32.779 - more than two tenths of a second ahead of the next best driver in Darwin Race 1 winner Will Exton in the Team Soutar Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4, while Murray did the same over Exton’s teammate Jack Johnson in Qualifying 2 - the pair separated by half a second.
Rounding out the top three for Qualifying 1 was Blake Purdie in the #48 Purdie Racing Audi R8 GT4, who ended up a further tenth behind the two pacesetting McLarens, while Cam McLeod enjoyed a decent start with his new outfit in Wallis Motorsport to go fourth fastest.
In Qualifying 2, it was a different driver to go third fastest as Lochie Dalton guided the #227 Multispares Racing Ford Mustang GT4 to third - almost one second off the pacesetting McLaren.
Silver Am
Zac Soutar continued his good pace from Friday’s Practice sessions as he topped the Silver-Am class aboard the Tufflift Racing McLaren Artura GT4.
Posting a time of 1:33.099, Soutar comfortably edged the returning Lachlan Mineeff by half a second to score pole for the class. Mineeff showed plenty of qualifying himself in the Randall Racing BMW M4 GT4 G82 he shares with Jacob Lawrence.
A minor gap separated the top two from the rest of the Silver-Am field as Method Motorsport’s Cody Burcher went third fastest having posted a 1:33.8533 in the #118 Ford Mustang GT4 - two tenths off the leaders, while Ryder Quinn was fourth fastest in the #3 Thunder Buddies /Black Diamond BMW M4 GT4 G82 - a mighty effort considering the car crashed out of Practice 2 yesterday.
It was another BMW who would take pole position in Qualifying 2, with the returning Tim Leahey guiding the #22 BMW M4 GT4 G82 to a time of 1:34.682, which was seven tenths faster than Burcher’s co-driver Dean Campbell in second, while Soutar’s co-driver Glenn Nirwan in the Tufflift Racing by TSM finished third for the session.
Am Cup
Ryan Sorensen was the man to beat in both qualifying sessions as he posted the fastest time in each session. The Method Motorsport man steering his McLaren Artura GT4 to a time of 1:34.703 in the first, and 1:35.031 in the second.
In Qualifying 1, his closest rival was Glenn Walker in the Gomersall Motorsport Ford Mustang GT4, with the title contender just four tenths off the leader. It was another Mustang to go third fastest as Jarrod Keyte for Ekebol MPC rounded out the top three.
The gap between Sorensen and Walker was even closer in Qualifying 2 as almost two tenths of a second separated the two drivers - the former again holding the advantage.
Rounding out the top three was the #64 Method Motorsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS of Chris Lillis, as he kept his and Nathan Callaghan’s Am Cup title hopes alive with a solid lap.
Today’s sole race for Monochrome GT4 Australia will be at 5:20pm AEST under the twilight sky of Eastern Creek.