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Callum Hedge has stormed to pole in record time for the Porsche Carrera Cup at The Bend, knocking off Dylan O’Keefe who makes his first front-row start since Winton last season.
The records fell as the progress of the 992 Porsche 911 was translated into superior lap times for the top thirteen qualifiers.
Pro-class points leader Jackson Walls set a 1:50.1152 to set the first benchmark lap, 0.2485 ahead of Hall and Max Vidau, who was fastest in Friday practice. Supercars drivers Dylan O’Keefe was next – ahead of Fabian Coulthard and Garth Tander, who is making a cameo in the series this weekend.
O’Keefe then posted a 1:49.4854 in a new lap record, which was knocked off by Callum Hedge who set a 1:49.3254, with Nick McBride moving to third (1:49.8371) with 10 minutes remaining in the session.
At the midway point, Hedge was fastest from O’Keefe, McBride, Walls, Ryder Quinn, Bayley Hall, Dale Wood, Christian Pancione, David Wall and Alex Davison in tenth.
Five-time Bathurst winner Tander was 13th with a 1:50.6840 after his first run.
Sam Shahin, who was the fastest in the Am class in Friday practice, maintained his place at the top with a 1:50.7352 for 14th overall, with Adrian Flack one spot back to be second in the class in a 1:50.8419.
With most of the front runners fitting four fresh Michelin tyres, Walls jumped to P1 with a 1:49.3152 with five minutes remaining. Simon Fallon jumped to P5, before Vidau knocked him off with a 1:49.5138. Fallon then went faster to be fourth fastest with a 1:49.4886 in the Sonic Racing Porsche.
O’Keefe then went top with a 1:48.9627 with 60s remaining, with Hedge second and Walls going faster but remaining third with Pancione then going fourth ahead of Hall and Fallon.
Hedge remained a threat but was angry about issues in traffic – before he knocked O’Keefe off as the clock hit zero with a 1:48.8382.
Flack pipped Shahin to Am pole, with a 1:50.3379 and 18th overall, with Shahin in 20th to be second in class from Cook.
Tander ended the session in P9 with a 1:49.6304.
The first of three races this weekend is at 15:20 local time/15:50 AEST this afternoon, August 19.
2023 Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia – Qualifying
Saturday August 19
| Pos | No | Team | Driver | Fastest Lap | Gap |
| 1 | 17 | Team Porsche New Zealand/Earl Bamber Motortsport | Callum Hedge (Qld) | 1:48.8382 | |
| 2 | 88 | Dexion /RAM Motorsport | Dylan O’Keeffe (Vic) | 1:48.9627 | 0:00.1245 |
| 3 | 11 | Objective Racing | Jackson Walls (NSW) | 1:49.2890r | 0:00.4508 |
| 4 | 76 | VCM Performance /HP Tuners | Christian Pancione (Vic) | 1:49.4466 | 0:00.6084 |
| 5 | 28 | Hall Finance /Ins Solutions | Bayley Hall (Qld) | 1:49.4657 | 0:00.6275 |
| 6 | 777 | Sonic /Bob Jane T Marts | Simon Fallon (Vic) | 1:49.4886 | 0:00.6504 |
| 7 | 72 | TekworkX Motorsport /Tyrepower | Max Vidau (SA) | 1:49.5138 | 0:00.6756 |
| 8 | 992 | Ranbuild | Dale Wood (Vic) | 1:49.6186 | 0:00.7804 |
| 9 | 87 | SP Tools Racing | Garth Tander | 1:49.6304 | 0:00.7922 |
| 10 | 8 | Porsche Centre Melbourne /BWT | Nick McBride (Vic) | 1:49.6979 | 0:00.8597 |
| 11 | 999 | Sonic /Bob Jane TMarts /PitBox | Angelo Mouzouris (Vic) | 1:49.7472 | 0:00.9090 |
| 12 | 222 | Scott Taylor Motorsport | Alex Davison (Qld) | 1:49.8370 | 0:00.9988 |
| 13 | 38 | Wall Racing | David Wall (NSW) | 1:49.8845 | 0:01.0463 |
| 14 | 2 | Wall Racing / MOUTAI | Luke King (NSW) | 1:49.9718 | 0:01.1336 |
| 15 | 101 | Local Legends | Ryder Quinn (Qld) | 1:50.0648 | 0:01.2266 |
| 16 | 42 | Coca-Cola Racing by EMA | Chris Pither (Vic) | 1:50.1598 | 0:01.3216 |
| 17 | 3 | Porsche Centre Melbourne /BWT | Fabian Coulthard (NZ) | 1:50.1845 | 0:01.3463 |
| 18 | 20 | AGAS National | Adrian Flack (Qld) | 1:50.3379 | 0:01.4997 |
| 19 | 5 | TekworkX Motorsport | Thomas Maxwell (Vic) | 1:50.4755 | 0:01.6373 |
| 20 | 13 | The Bend Motorsport Park | Sam Shahin (SA) | 1:50.7352 | 0:01.8970 |
| 21 | 22 | Dexion / RAM Motorsport | Dean Cook (Vic) | 1:50.8736 | 0:02.0354 |
| 22 | 14 | ID Land / Team MPC | Matthew Belford (Vic) | 1:51.4590 | 0:02.6208 |
| 23 | 32 | Porsche Centre Melbourne /BWT | Courtney Prince (Vic) | 1:52.2170 | 0:03.3788 |
| 24 | 7 | Miles Advisory Partners | Tim Miles (NSW) | 1:52.2677 | 0:03.4295 |
| 25 | 86 | Wall Racing | Drew Hall (NSW) | 1:52.5776 | 0:03.7394 |
| 26 | 77 | Sonic /Bob Jane T Marts | Rodney Jane (Vic) | 1:52.7327 | 0:03.8945 |
| 27 | 23 | TekworkX Motorsport | Daniel Stutterd (Vic) | 1:52.9472 | 0:04.1090 |
| 28 | 9 | Hallmarc | Marc Cini (Vic) | 1:56.7677 | 0:07.9295 |
