Fraser Ross claimed a maiden CAMS Australian GT Championship pole position for both himself and McLaren during Qualifying 2 at Albert Park.
With ambiet temperature around 28 degrees and the circuit nudging 50, track conditions were deemed not to be as quick for qualifying two as they were earlier in the day.
Fastest in the afternoon outing, and also the pole sitter for race two tomorrow was Fraser Ross in the Total Oils McLaren 650S.
He felt as a one-driver operation he had the advantage over the teams that were using two.
“We tuned the car up from this morning, made it more to my liking and therefore didn’t have to change it to accommodate someone else,” he said.
Ross finished the session with a best of 1 minute 57.5805 second lap, half a second ahead of Max Twigg (WM Waste Management Mercedes AMG GTS).
From the Aussie Racing Car ranks, Jaie Robson’s transition to GTs has been a rewarding one with third fastest in another of the Mercedes.
Last year’s Australian GT Champion Geoff Emery was fourth fastest in the Jamec Penn Audi R8 LMS ahead of Peter Hackett at the wheel of the Eggleston Motorsport Mercedes-AMG.
Audis finished in the next three positions with Ash Samadi, Tony Bates and the Trophy car of Nick Kelly in eighth. Right at the end Scotty Taylor (Mercedes) snuck in ahead of Liam Talbot (Porsche 911 GT3-R) for ninth.
Second to Kelly in the Trophy Championship was John Morriss (Porsche GT3-R) who was placed 12th overall while Rio Nugara (Audi) and Wayne Mack (Ferrari 458) were not far away in 13th and 14th.
Jeremy Gray was again the fastest of the GT4 cars in his Aston Martin but was excluded from the session later.
“I think we may have a weight problem,” he predicted. “We thought it was dry weight.”
That has elevated Xavier West (BMW M4) to the GT4 pole ahead of Justin McMillian (KTM X-Bow) and Mark Griffith (Ginetta).
Race 2 is schedule for Friday at 10:45am.
Qualifying 2 Results
1 Fraser Ross (McLaren 650S GT3) CH 1:57.5805
2 Max Twigg (Mercedes-AMG GT3) CH 1:58.0842
3 Jaie Robson (Mercedes-AMG GT3) CH 1:58.3526
4 Geoff Emery (Audi R8 LMS) CH 1:59.1100
5 Peter Hackett (Mercedes-AMG GT3) CH 1:59.1458
6 Ash Samadi (Audi R8 LMS) CH 1:59.5018
7 Tony Bates (Audi R8 LMS) CH 1:59.6102
8 Nick Kelly (Audi R8 LMS Ultra) TR 1:59.8478
9 Scott Taylor (Mercedes-AMG GT3) CH 1:59.8504
10 Liam Talbot (Porsche 911 GT3-R) CH 1:59.9751
11 Tony Quinn (McLaren 650S GT3) CH 1:59.9902
12 John Morriss (Porsche 911 GT3-R) TR 2:01.5411
13 Rio Nugara (Audi R8 LMS Ultra) TR 2:01.7629
14 Wayne Mack (Ferrari 458 GT3) TR 2:02.1111
15 Matthew Stoupas (Audi R8 LMS Ultra) TR 2:02.1958
16 Steve Richards (BMW M6 GT3) CH 2:03.1840
17 Peter Edwards (Ferrari 488 GT3) CH 2:03.6093
18 Jan Jinadasa (Lamborghini Gallardo GT3) TR 2:04.5222
19 Daniel Stutterd (Porsche 991 GT3 Cup) TR 2:05.1276
20 Michael Loccisano (Porsche 991 GT3 Cup) TR 2:05.3366
21 Sam Fillmore (Porsche 991 GT3 Cup) TR 2:07.3950
22 Shane Barwood (Porsche 991 GT3 Cup) TR 2:07.6929
23 Dale Paterson (Chevrolet Camaro GT3) TR 2:08.2181
24 Joseph Ensabella (Porsche 997 GT3 Cup) TR 2:09.7183
25 Jim Manolios (Lamborghini Huracan GT3) CH 2:10.7638
26 Nick Karnaros (Porsche 997 GT3 Cup) TR 2:11.8415
27 Chris Seidler (Porsche 991 GT3 Cup) TR 2:11.9745
28 Xavier West (BMW M4 GT4) GT4 2:13.4023
29 Justin McMillan (KTM X-Bow GT4) GT4 2:14.5750
30 Mark Griffith (Ginetta GT4) GT4 2:15.0270
Exc: Jeremy Gray (Aston Martin Vantage GT4) GT4 2:10.4278
