Audi sweeps front row for Race 1

Audi’s Kelvin van der Linde has claimed pole for Race 1 of this weekend’s CAMS Australian GT Championship round at Albert Park.

Trading fastest times with stable-mate Ash Walsh, the pair were split by less than a tenth of a second at the end of a thrilling 20-minute qualifying session.

Walsh had been on pole position until a late effort from van der Linde saw the Valvoline Audi R8 LMS pip the Supabarn Supermarkets entry, making for an all-Audi front row.

The KFC Audi driven by Daniel Gaunt will start third after setting a 1:55.405 in the session, pipping David Russell in the JBS Australia Lamborghini R-EX by little more than a tenth of a second.

Steven Richards tested the limits of the circuit early on his way to recording the fifth fastest time of the session, while Dean Fiore battled his way to sixth place.

British import Lewis Williamson was next best in the Tekno Autosports prepared McLaren 650S GT3, ahead of Glen Wood in the Interlloy M Motorsport Lamborghini R-EX he’s sharing with Yasser Shahin this weekend.

The first solo driver on the grid was Liam Talbot in ninth place, the MEGA Racing Porsche 911 GT3-R recording a best effort of 1:57.242, just half a tenth quicker than Cam McConville who was at the wheel of the all-new Zagame Motorsport entered Lamborghini Huracan.

Pole position for van der Linde extends Audi’s pole run to nine, while the South African also bettered the qualifying lap record set by Christopher Mies a year ago.

A second 20-minute qualifying session will be run later this afternoon, setting the grid for Race 2 on Friday morning.

Qualifying 1 Results