Aaron Cameron has qualified on pole for the S5000 Tasman Series with the fastest-ever lap of the Adelaide Parklands Circuit.
Cameron set a blistering 1:15.4972s late in the 20-minute qualifying session to grab pole position for the series finale at the Valo Adelaide 500.
His effort bested the 1:17.9726s set by Simon Hodge behind the wheel of a Mygale M11 in the 2014 Australian Drivers’ Championship.
The lap times come despite the S5000 field running with restricted horsepower at the Adelaide Parklands Circuit to meet the mandated weight-power ratio for Category II vehicles at a Grade 3 circuit, although it does follow a resurface of most of the track in recent months.
The rapid lap time follows the 1:18s recorded in Practice 2 yesterday, which already bettered the benchmark for Supercars Championship cars around the 3.219km circuit, Shane van Gisbergen’s 1:19.295s qualifying effort in 2019.
In S5000 Qualifying, Cameron edged out practice pace-setter Nathan Herne by 0.2845s, with Cooper Webster in third with a 1:16.1243.
The fastest times arrived late in the session, with Herne’s and Webster’s best taking place on their 13th circulations before Cameron sealed pole position with his 14th lap.
After setting an early benchmark, two-time Australian Drivers’ Champion Joey Mawson ultimately finished fourth with a 1:16.3014s, while three-time Formula 1 race winner Giancarlo Fisichella qualified in fifth place with a 1:16.3239s effort.
Jordan Boys (1:16.3795s) and Ben Bargwanna (1:16.4091s) were sixth and seventh respectively, while the retiring Tim Macrow was eighth with a 1:16.8206s.
Blake Purdie and Noah Sands rounded out the top 10, with Jude Bargwanna, Sebastien Amadio, Mark Rosser, debutant Brad Gartner, and Tickford-bound Super2 driver Elly Morrow completing the field.
The S5000 Tasman Series field will take to the track for Race 1 at 14:55 local time/15:25 AEDT.