Triple Eight Race Engineering pairing Prince Jefri Ibrahim and Broc Feeney have taken each of the poles for the two races at The Bend Motorsport Park for Round 5 of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS.
It’s the second time the Harrolds Pole Award, with the fastest Pro-Am and Am Class winning a $1000 to spend at Australia’s Luxury Department Store.
It was the close battle between the Am drivers despite the wet conditions in the first segment of qualifying as Ibrahim set a 1m 47.794s time in his Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes-AMG GT3 to edge series leader Yasser Shahin driving The Bend Motorsport Park-supported Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II by 0.170s.
Title rival Liam Talbot rounded out the top three in the Shannons Audi, just 0.358s off Ibrahim’s pace. The second Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes of Abu Bakar Ibrahim was fourth as Adrian Deitz in the Wall Racing-prepared Lamborghini Huracan GT3 rounded out the Pro-Am Class runners.
In Am Class, Matt Stoupas won pole by the barest of margins as the KFC Audi set a 1m 49.673s to be just 0.049s clear of the Harrolds Racing Volante Rosso Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Ross Poulakis.
Michael Sheargold in the RAM Motorsport Mercedes and Gary Higgon driving the second KFC Audi rounded out the field.
Launch Racing’s Michael Kokkinos took pole by 0.455s from debutants Valmont Racing with Sergio Pires at the wheel of the Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Mark Griffith in the Daimler Trucks Brisbane Mercedes-GT4 led the way from the Harrolds Racing Volante Rosso example of Christos Batzios.
When the Pro drivers hit the track, the track conditions had improved as Feeney set a time of 1m 45.592s to lead Garth Tander by 0.740s, while Jamie Whincup was 0.861s as Fraser Ross and Tony D’Alberto in the Lamborghini completed the class standings.
Just as it was in the first session, the margin in Am Class was tight as Garth Walden led the way by just 0.041s from Paul Stokell, while Stoupas and Poulakis were not far behind.
Valmont Racing turned the tables on Launch Racing’s Michael Kokkinos by 0.498s as Marcel Zalloua went fastest.
A last gasp lap by Sam Brabham in the Harrolds Racing Volante Rosso Mercedes put it on pole for Race 2 as Nash Morris fell 0.204s short in the Daimler Trucks Brisbane entry.
The opening race for the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS is scheduled for 2:55pm local time (3:25pm AEDT).