Returning to the venue of its first victory, the Miedecke Motorsport/Lubrimaxx Ford Mustang continued where it left off by setting the fastest time in practice and pre-qualifying at the GT Festival, Phillip Island.
Shared by Rylan Gray and George Miedecke, the Ford Mustang set a 1m 34.839s in practice before lowering the mark to a 1m 34.150s in the following pre-qualifying session.
In practice, Tim Leahey and Cody Burcher were right on the pace in the Central West Prestige BMW M4 GT4 G82, just 0.274s off the mark.
Debutant Oscar Targett made it three manufacturers in the top positions driving the Team Nineteen Ginetta G56 GT4 to be shared alongside Jesse Bryan. The Porsche hotshot was 0.389s from the benchmark time.
Method Motorsport’s Marcos Flack and Tom Hayman finished fourth in their McLaren Artura GT4 from Love Racing by Volante Rosso Motorsport’s new Silver Cup partnership with Sam Brabham combining with Antonio Astuti for the first time in the lead Mercedes-AMG GT4.
TekworkX Motorsport also welcome a new duo as race winner Tom McLennan joins Zoe Woods in her Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 MR CS, with the entry sixth in opening practice.
Jake Camilleri rounded out the Silver Cup entrants in seventh driving the Gomersall Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4.
Leading Pro-Am Cup in eighth outright was the Paul and Nash Morris McLaren 570s GT4, with the second Love Racing by Volante Rosso Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 of another father-son partnership, Rob and Bailey Love at the head Am Cup in ninth.
Reigning series winner Shane Smollen rounded out the top 10 with Lachlan Mineeff driving the Method Motorsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS MR, which was also second in Pro-Am Cup.
Anthony Levitt was second in Am Cup in his first taste of the Method Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 to be ahead of class leaders John Bowe and Jacob Lawrence in the Randall Racing BMW M4 GT4 G82.
Steve Jukes in his first start of the season placed the Verve Motorsport Audi R8 GT4 LMS fourth in Am Cup ahead of the second Randall Racing BMW of Jamie Augustine and Peter Lawrence.
Ryder Quinn and Steve Jakic placed 15th in the Black Diamond Building and Construction BMW, as Mark Griffith in the Team Nineteen Mercedes-AMG GT4 rounded out the field.
Behind the Mustang in pre-qualifying was Targett in the Ginetta 0.522s behind as Quinn recovered to finish third and lead in Pro-Am.
The Leahey/Burcher BMW was fourth, Astuti/Brabham, Flack/Hayman, Camilleri, Mineeff/Smollen, McLennan/Wood and Bowe/Lawrence.
Monochrome GT4 Australia action continues with qualifying at 11:30am AEST to be broadcast live through the GTWorld YouTube Channel. Race coverage will be provided by Foxtel/Kayo beginning at 2:15pm AEST.