In a chilly qualifying session for Round 2 of Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS at The Bend, Brad Schumacher and Jaxon Evans have secured the Pirelli Pole Position Awards for the event.
Evans led a Ferrari 1-2 in the opening session featuring all the Pro drivers, setting a 1m 14.730s to edge Arise Racing GT teammate Chaz Mostert by 0.433s.
The pair of Ferrari 296 GT3s will head the field, but close behind will be the Realta/Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Jayden Ojeda and winner last time out Brendon Leitch in the Dayle ITM Team MPC Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2.
Current Supercars Championship leader Will Brown driving the Shaw & Partners/Kelso Electrical/Team MPC Audi will start from fifth alongside Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Declan Fraser, leaving Tony D’Alberto driving the Wall Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 sharing the fourth row with recently returned European open-wheel ace Alex Peroni piloting the Team BRM R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.
Valentino Astuti impressed in the sole Trophy Class entry to be ninth driving the KMB Motorsport Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 to be ahead of debutant Nick McBride in another Team MPC Audi.
James Koundouris led the Am Class in 11th outright for Supabarn Supermarkets/Tigani Motorsport as Ben Schoots made it a Mercedes-AMG GT3 1-2 in the division in the Black Wolf Motorsport example.
In 13th was the OnlyFans Team MPC Audi of Renee Gracie to line up beside the similar Valmont Racing example of Marcel Zalloua leaving Ash Samadi, RAM Motorsport’s Mike Sheargold and the Hallmarc Team MPC entry of Marc Cini to round out the grid.
The second qualifying session proved just as close, but it was Shaw & Partners/Kelso Electrical/Team MPC’s Schumacher giving Audi the upper hand by setting a 1m15.813s to lead the top Am Class contender Garth Walden for RAM Motorsport by 0.386s.
Reigning Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS series winner Liam Talbot will start third in the first of the Ferraris alongside Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Peter Hackett.
Elliott Schutte will start fifth in the second Arise Racing GT Ferrari alongside the Audi of series debutant Steve Brooks, while fellow New Zealander Tim Miles is on the fourth row in the Dayle ITM Team MPC entry shared by Team BRM’s Mark Rosser.
Realta/Tigani Motorsport’s Paul Lucchitti was ninth in his Mercedes-AMG GT3 from Sergio Pires for Valmont Racing.
KMB Motorsport’s Darren Currie in the Aston Martin just missed the top 10, with Theo Koundouris in the Supabarn Supermarkets/Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 filling out the sixth row.
Adrian Deitz in the Wall Racing Lamborghini, the Black Wolf Motorsport Mercedes-AMG of Shane Woodman, Hallmarc’s Marc Cini and Ash Samadi rounded out the field.
The opening race for the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS will be at 12:25pm ACST or 12:55pm AEST live on GTWorld or 7plus locally.