Series leader Tom Alexander will start from Armor All Pole Position for the opening ECB SuperUtes race of the weekend following a shortened qualifying session in Newcastle.

The New Zealander went fastest late in the session, which ended under red flag when Ben Falk put his Mazda BT-50 on its side after running wide at Parnell Place.

Having lost the back end, Falk ran wide on exit of the 90-degree left hander, tagging the wall on driver’s right before the front wheel climbed the tyre belt and tipped the Mazda onto its side.

With little more than a minute left to run, the session did not restart, confirming Alexander on pole from Ryal Harris (Mazda BT-50) and Cameron Crick (Mitsubishi Triton).

Alexander (Isuzu D-Max) moved to the top of the timesheets midway through the session, Crick having again been quick in the opening laps to lay down a time of 1:29.4441s.

He then improved on his following two laps, first to 1:29.0063s before shaving four thousandths next time through.

That left him fastest ahead of Ryan Harris with a 0.2995s margin, with Ben Walsh (Toyota Hilux) in provisional third almost seven tenths down on Crick’s best.

Alexander then moved the game on, recording a 1:28.8514s only for Harris to respond with a 1:28.8105s.

It left the pair split by less than half a tenth before Alexander banked first a 1:28.5090s and then a 1:28.4880s to move 0.3225s clear at the top of the timesheet.

Crick moved to third fastest, 0.5142s off Alexander’s pace, with Elliot Barbour fourth on a 1:29.1746s.

The opening SuperUtes race of the weekend takes place tomorrow at 1240 local time/AEDT, the category’s only appearance on Saturday’s program.

Results: Armor All Qualifying