Duvashan Padayachee and John Martin have combined to hand Walkinshaw GT3 its first pole position for Round 2 of the CAMS Australian Endurance Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Martin ended the opening qualifying session fastest, setting a blistering time of 1:27.0834 as the chequered flag fell to end the session.
His effort was then matched by a strong lap from Padayachee in the second session to confirm the Porsche 911 GT3-R’s place at the front of the field.
“I’m really happy,” beamed Martin. “I got baulked on my best lap but the 1min 27.0s was a pretty good lap too but I’m happy to be starting at the front!”
“It’s great,” added Padayachee. “The team has done a really good job with the car and it’s nice to be able to get such a strong result for them.”
Joining the Walkinshaw GT3 Porsche 911 on the front row for the 101-lap epic is the Theo Koundouris/Marcus Marshall Supabarn Supermarkets Audi R8 LMS who lapped Sydney Motorsport Park in a combined time of 1:28.339.
The all-German front row is followed by an all-British second row, with father and son combination Andrew and George Miedecke (Miedecke Motor Group Aston Martin) claiming third with Tony Walls and Warren Luff (Objective Racing McLaren 650S GT3) fourth fastest.
McLarens also claimed fifth fastest courtesy of Klark Quinn and Daniel Gaunt, while championship leaders Grant Denyer and Nathan Morcom qualified their McLaren Melbourne 650S GT3 eighth in a competitive field that saw just two tenths separate third to 14th.
Building on a strong third place at the season opening Phillip Island 101, Dominic Story and Peter Hackett will start a strong sixth place in the Eggleston Motorsport prepared Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Greg Taylor and Nathan Antunes qualified the GT Motorsport car seventh fastest, with Miguel Molina and Tony Bates making for three Audi R8 LMS’ in the top ten.
Tomorrow’s race gets underway at 8:30am, with two compulsory stops and 101 laps of the 5.3-kilometre Sydney Motorsport Park circuit awaiting teams.
The race will be broadcast live on Fox Sports, channel 506.
Qualifying Results
Pos Team Drivers Car Time
1 Walkinshaw GT3 John Martin/Duvashen Padayachee Porsche 911 GT3-R 1:27.601
2 Supabarn Supermarkets Theo Koundouris/Marcus Marshall Audi R8 LMS 1:28.339
3 Miedecke Motor Group George Miedecke/Andrew Miedecke Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3 1:28.363
4 Objective Racing Tony Walls/Warren Luff McLaren 650S GT3 1:28.395
5 Darrell Lea Klark Quinn/Daniel Gaunt McLaren 650S GT3 1:28.412
6 Eggleston Motorsport Peter Hackett/Dominic Storey Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:28.428
7 GT Motorsport Greg Taylor/Nathan Antunes Audi R8 LMS 1:28.475
8 McLaren Melbourne Grant Denyer/Nathan Morcom McLaren 650S GT3 1:28.480
9 JBS Australia Roger Lago/David Russell Lamborghini R-EX 1:28.522
10 JAMEC PEM Miguel Molina/Tony Bates Audi R8 LMS 1:28.577
11 SR Motorsport Steve Richards/Max Twigg BMW M6 GT3 1:28.867
12 Bondi Wholefoods Ash Samadi/Tony D’Alberto Audi R8 LMS 1:28.900
13 Scott Taylor Motorsport Scott Taylor/Craig Baird Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:29.062
14 Darrell Lea Tony Quinn/Hayden Cooper Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3 1:29.337
15 Skwirk Online Education Liam Talbot/Jack Fouracre Audi R8 Ultra 1:29.370
16 Maranello Motorsport Adiran Dietz/Cameron McConville Ferrari 458 GT3 1:29.800
17 Maranello Motorsport Peter Edwards/John Bowe Ferrari 488 GT3 1:30.154
18 Hog’s Breath Café/Griffith Corporation Mark Griffith/Matt Solomon Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 1:30.158
19 Fastway Couriers Simon Ellingham/Tim Miles Audi R8 Ultra 1:30.201
20 Interlloy M Motorsport Justin McMillan/Glen Wood Lamborghini R-EX 1:30.782
21 AMAC Motorsport Andrew Macpherson/Brad Shiels Porsche 997 GT3-R 1:31.014
22 Performance West Motorsport Alex Rullo/Peter Rullo Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 1:31.312
23 Jamec Pem Steve McLaughlan/Dean Koutsoumidis Audi R8 LMS 1:32.667
24 Pirelli/Trofeo Motorsport Jim Manolios/Ryan Millier Lamborghini Huracan 1:36.528