Aaron Love will start the opening Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia race at Sandown International Motor Raceway from pole.

After topping practice on Friday, Love (Sonic Motor Racing) pushed through the challenging conditions to top the timesheets with 1:14.546s on his sixth lap in the session.

It is the second consecutive pole position for the West Australian and the third of his Carrera Cup career.

Dylan O’Keeffe (RAM Motorsport) set a 1:14.8622s late in the session to qualify second, while early pace setter Max Vidau (TekworkX Motorsport) posted a 1:14.8622s to seal a third place start for Race 1.

Vidau and Love traded times early in the session, with Vidau opening his account with a 1:16.3362s on his first flying lap to set the tone on a drying track.

Love responded with a 1:15.2748s the following lap, before Vidau shot back to the top with a 1:15.0221s on his fourth lap.

The eventual pole-setter bettered his mark with a 1:14.7424s on Lap 5, before setting the fastest lap of the session the following lap.

Sonic Motor Racing locked-out the second row of the grid, with Simon Fallon posting a 1:14.9528s to lap fourth fastest, while Angelo Mouzouris set a 1:14.9609s to seal a fifth place start.

Timken Racing’s Dale Wood (1:15.0016s), VCM Performance’s Christian Pancione (1:15.1993s), points leader Harri Jones (1:15.2366s), Porsche Centre Melbourne’s Nick McBride (1:15.2720s), and McElrea Racing’s Jackson Walls (1:15.3559s) rounded out the top 10.

Notable omissions from the ten include Earl Bamber Motorsport’s Callum Hedge, who qualified 11th with a 1:15.3814s after a troublesome session that included contact with Duvashen Payayachee, and championship contender David Wall who qualified 13th with a 1:15.5586s.

Geoff Emery (1:16.8399s) was quickest in the Pro-Am class, followed by Adrian Flack (1:16.8680s), and Sam Shahin (1:17.1147s).

Race 1 for Carrera Cup this weekend, will start at 14:45 AEST.