Reigning Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS winner Yasser Shahin will start this afternoon’s opening race at Sandown from pole, while Shane van Gisbergen will do likewise on Sunday after finishing on top in their respective sessions.
The battle for the inaugural Harrolds Pole Award was a tight affair in the opening session between the Am drivers as just 0.028s separated the two Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo IIs of Shahin and key title contender Liam Talbot in Pro-Am.
In an impressive display, Harrolds Volante Rosso Racing’s Ross Poulakis took pole in Am Class in his Mercedes as Matt Stoupas in the KFC Audi was close behind in second, with these positions deciding the grid for Race 1 this afternoon.
Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Shane van Gisbergen took pole in the second 20-minute segment by 0.184s from Shahin’s co-driver Garth Tander as David Reynolds and Fraser Ross were within half a second.
Mercedes also took pole in Am Class through the RAM Motorsport entry of Garth Walden as he edged the KFC Audis of Paul Stokell and Stoupas.
The winners of the Harrolds Pole Awards receive a $1000 voucher to spend at Australia’s Luxury Department Store.
The remainder of the grid for Race 1 features the Hallmarc Audi of category returnee Marc Cini in fifth, the Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes to start in Prince Jefri Ibrahim’s hands in sixth, C-Tech Laser’s Tony Bates, the Invitational Class KTM XBow GT2 of David Crampton, Gary Higgon’s KFC Audi and the Michael Sheargold in the RAM Motorsport Mercedes.
Mark Griffith edged Christos Bastios in the Mercedes-AMG battle in GT4.
For Race 2, Stoupas was third in Am Class and seventh outright leading Poulakis, Cini and Trent Harrison in the KTM XBow.
Sharing with Griffith, Super2 leader Declan Fraser led Sam Brabham in what will be a close battle for GT4 honours.
The opening race for the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS at Sandown will be featured on Stan Sport’s live, uninterrupted and on-demand coverage 1:25pm AEST.
Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia’s two 60-minute races will be covered by Stan Sport’s live, uninterrupted and on-demand coverage.
You can sign up to a free 7-day trial with Stan Sport. Head to http://www.stan.com.au/