Love etches name into Carrera Cup history

Aaron Love has taken the first pole position of the new era of Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia.

A late call-up to the Sonic Motor Racing Services squad, Love banged in a 1:49.3236s before a Christian Pancione incident brought out the red flags.

With an early end to proceedings, Love was ensured the mantle of being the maiden pole-sitter since the Type 992 Cup car entered Australian competition.

“Getting pole is a great way to spend my flying visit here to Melbourne,” he said.

“It’s so great to come back and have all the support from the team, especially Rod [Jane] with Bob Jane T-Marts on the car. The effort from the team after Practice 1 made it great to get back out there and have an unreal car to drive around.

“There is no better place to get my first pole position in Carrera Cup, so I’m feeling great.

“The track is quite a bit of fun now and down the back is so much faster, and it definitely suits these cars better than the old track because you can really use that aero grip for racing especially with the big draft down the back. I can’t wait to get racing.”

His closest rival proved to be Tekworkx Motorsport’s Max Vidau, whose team-mate Luke Youlden will start fourth.

Nick McBride split the Tekworkx entries, while Pancione wound up fifth.

Familiar names such as 2021 front-runner Harri Jones (12th) were buried back in the pack, although he still qualified ahead of Bathurst 1000 starters Dale Wood (13th), Dylan O’Keeffe (16th) and David Russell (19th).

Wall Racing’s Liam Talbot led the way in Pro-Am.

“It was an eerily smooth session and nothing really to report, except obviously the track is still lacking any sort of grip which make the car a little loose in the rear, but they are really first world problems,” Talbot said.

“We just got a pole position in the first round which is a great way to start the year.”

Race 1 for Porsche Carrera Cup Australia is scheduled for 11:00 AEST tomorrow.

Results: Qualifying