Jono Lester became only the third man in Australian GT Championship history to score three consecutive pole positions after coming through a thrilling second qualifying session at Townsville.
The Trass Family Motorsport Ferrari was involved in a duel with the Jamec-Pem Audi R8 of German GT star Christopher Mies, but it was Lester who came out on top.
The Kiwi set the pace from the outset before improving his time to a 1:12.1179s to eclipse the 1:12.9s effort which earned Maranello Motorsport provisional pole position on Friday.
The best times set across the two qualifying sessions set the grid for the third round of the championship.
Mies took the fight to Lester as he posted a time just 0.040s adrift in the dying minutes of a session, which was extended by five minutes due to a red flag triggered by Michael Hovey’s Ginetta.
In the end, Lester hung on to follow in the footsteps of Allan Simonsen and Greg Crick by scoring three consecutive pole positions in the championship after triumphs at Adelaide and Phillip Island this year.
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Clipsal 500 round winner Nathan Antunes will line up in third position alongside Brad Shiels in the AMAC Motorsport Porsche.
The Maranello Motorsport Ferrari of Tony D’Alberto and Grant Denyer will share the third row of the grid with the Darrell Lea McLaren 650s of Klark Quinn.
Steve Owen’s time set in Friday’s qualifying session was enough for Kevin Weeks’ owned Ford GT to hold onto seventh on the grid.
John Magro (Lamborghini Gallardo), Geoff Emery (Erebus Motorsport Mercedes SLS) and Barton Mawer (Audi R8) completed the top 10.
The first of this weekend’s two 46 lap Australian GT Championship races will begin at 11:55.
Result: Australian GT Championship Qualifying 2, Townsville
| 1 | Trass Family Motorsport | Jono Lester (NZ) | Ferrari 458 GT3 | 1:12.1179 | |
| 2 | JAMEC PEM Racing | Christopher Mies (GER) | Audi R8 Ultra | 1:12.1639 | 00.0460 |
| 3 | Skwirk / Beechwood Homes | Nathan Antunes (NSW) | Audi R8 Ultra | 1:12.6556 | 00.5377 |
| 4 | AMAC Motorsport | Bradley Shiels (NSW) | Porsche 997 GT3-R | 1:12.8518 | 00.7339 |
| 5 | Maranello Motorsport | Grant Denyer (NSW) | Ferrari 458 GT3 2014 | 1:12.9519 | 00.8340 |
| 6 | Darrell Lea | Klark Quinn (Qld) | McLaren 650S GT3 | 1:12.9997 | 00.8818 |
| 7 | johnmagro.com | John Magro (Qld) | Lamborghini Gallardo | 1:13.2839 | 01.1660 |
| 8 | Geoff Emery | Mercedes Benz AMG SL | 1:13.7321 | 01.6142 | |
| 9 | Adina Apartment Hotels | Barton Mawer (NSW) | Audi R8 LMS | 1:13.8076 | 01.6897 |
| 10 | Morgan Haber (Qld) | Mercedes Benz AMG SL | 1:13.9542 | 01.8363 | |
| 11 | Darrell Lea | Anthony Quinn (Qld) | McLaren 650S GT3 | 1:14.0318 | 01.9139 |
| 12 | Interlloy M Motorsport | Jack LeBrocq (Vic) | Reiter Camaro GT3 | 1:14.0345 | 01.9166 |
| 13 | Flying B Racing | John Bowe | Bentley Continental | 1:14.0802 | 01.9623 |
| 14 | Supabarn Supermarkets | James Koundouris (ACT) | Porsche 997 GT3-R | 1:14.1288 | 02.0109 |
| 15 | Objective Racing | Tony Walls (Qld) | McLaren 650S GT3 | 1:14.3180 | 02.2001 |
| 16 | JAMEC PEM Racing | Steven McLaughlan (Vic) | Audi R8 Ultra | 1:14.8002 | 02.6823 |
| 17 | EVA Racing / Evolve Technik | Peter Fitzgerald (Vic) | Audi R8 Ultra | 1:15.0235 | 02.9056 |
| 18 | JJA Consulting Group | Jan Jinadasa (Vic) | Lamborghini LP560-4 | 1:15.0853 | 02.9674 |
| 19 | Supaloc Racing | Kevin Weeks (SA) | Ford GT 2011 GT3 | 1:15.0925 | 02.9746 |
| 20 | Supabarn Supermarkets | Theo Koundouris (ACT) | Porsche 996 GT3-S | 1:15.1014 | 02.9835 |
| 21 | Maranello Motorsport | Adrian Deitz (NSW) | Ferrari 458 GT3 | 1:15.3422 | 03.2243 |
| 22 | Hogs Breath Cafe | Mark Griffith (Qld) | Audi R8 LMS | 1:15.5221 | 03.4042 |
| 23 | Motor School | Hayden Cooper (Qld) | Ginetta G50Z | 1:15.6959 | 03.5780 |
| 24 | Fire Rating Solutions | Matthew Turnbull (Vic) | Lamborghini LP-560 G | 1:16.1331 | 04.0152 |
| 25 | HHH Racing/Triffid/ESP | Michael Hovey (Qld) | Ginetta G55 GT3 | 1:16.5169 | 04.3990 |
| 26 | Walz Group | Matt Kingsley (Qld) | Porsche GT3 Cup Car | 1:16.5865 | 04.4686 |
| 27 | Fastway Couriers | Simon Ellinghham (NZ) | Porsche GT3 Cup Car | 1:17.3740 | 05.2561 |
| 28 | Voight Contracting | Scott Taylor (Qld) | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | 1:17.6894 | 05.5715 |
| 29 | DPM Motorsport | Steven Richards (Vic) | Reiter Camaro GT3 | 1:18.3328 | 06.2149 |
| 30 | SAFE-T-STOP | Richard Gartner (NSW) | Porsche GT3 Cup Car | 1:18.6505 | 06.5326 |
| 31 | Thomson Geer Lawyers | Michael O’Donnell (SA) | Porsche GT3 Cup Car | 1:19.5448 | 07.4269 |
| 32 | Donut King | Tony Alford (Qld) | Lotus Exige Cup R | 1:20.3721 | 08.2542 |
| 33 | Killer Racing | Wayne Udy (Qld) | Porsche GT3 Cup Car | 1:26.3076 | 14.189 |
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