Warren Luff has backed-up his victory in Adelaide with pole position for this weekend’s second round of the Porsche Cars Australia Carrera Cup at Albert Park.
Driving the No Second Chance/Phone 8 Porsche, Luff set a lap record time of 1:57.7313. He had to hold his breath as Steven Richards in the Laser Plumbing & Electrical 911 came within 0.0875 on his final lap.
Shae Davies (Davbridge Constructions) and Nick Foster (Sonic Motor Racing Services) will share the second row with multiple champion Craig Baird (Bonaire/Wilson Security) in fifth.
The session was stopped at the midway point when Tony Bates (Alternative Freight Services) tapped a tyre bundle and it was brought onto the racing line.
It meant the final minutes saw the times continue to tumble with different drivers sitting on the top of the time sheets.
Luff ran in tandem with team-mate Davies, and it appeared to pay off as the pair occupied the front row. Richards then went all out and came within a whisker of pole.
In the Elite field Shane Smollen (McGrath Estate Agents) took his second-straight award ahead of Roger Lago (JBS Swift) and James Bergmuller (Porsche Centre Brighton).
The first of three championship races in the Carrera Cup will be run at 6.20pm on Friday.
QUALIFYING: Carrera Cup – Albert Park
| Pos | No. | Driver | Sponsor | Time | Gap |
| 1 | 7 | Warren Luff | No Second Chance/Phone 8 | 1:57.7313* | |
| 2 | 12 | Steven Richards | Laser Plumbing & Electrical | 1:57.8188 | 0:00.0875 |
| 3 | 88 | Shae Davies | Davbridge Constructions | 1:57.9107 | 0:00.1794 |
| 4 | 77 | Nick Foster | Sonic Motor Racing Services | 1:58.4055 | 0:00.6742 |
| 5 | 1 | Craig Baird | Bonaire/Wilson Security | 1:58.6092 | 0:00.8779 |
| 6 | 29 | Michael Patrizi | Ausdrill/Onsite Racing | 1:58.7619 | 0:01.0306 |
| 7 | 27 | Sam Power | AVCS Consulting | 1:59.0020 | 0:01.2707 |
| 8 | 77 | Nick McBride | Sonic Motor Racing Services | 1:59.6002 | 0:01.8689 |
| 9 | 26 | Michael Almond | Copyworld | 1:59.7499 | 0:02.0186 |
| 10 | 56 | Shane Smollen | McGrath Estate Agents | 1:59.7806 | 0:02.0493 |
| 11 | 45 | Duvashen Padayachee | Rentcorp Forklifts | 1:59.8050 | 0:02.0737 |
| 12 | 23 | Roger Lago | JBS Swift | 2:01.2650 | 0:03.5337 |
| 13 | 13 | James Bergmuller | Porsche Centre Brighton | 2:01.3132 | 0:03.5819 |
| 14 | 9 | Marc Cini | Hallmarc/PIARC | 2:02.0654 | 0:04.3341 |
| 15 | 55 | Renee Gracie | Fujitsu Racing | 2:02.1074 | 0:04.3761 |
| 16 | 4 | Stephen Grove | Grove Group | 2:02.1658 | 0:04.4345 |
| 17 | 5 | Tony Walls | Objective Racing | 2:02.4365 | 0:04.7052 |
| 18 | 24 | Tony Bates | Alternative Freight Services/ | 2:02.4757 | 0:04.7444 |
| 19 | 22 | Brenton Ramsay | Phenix Motorsport | 2:02.7250 | 0:04.9937 |
| 20 | 10 | Maurice Pickering | Finance EZI | 2:04.5720 | 0:06.8407 |
| 21 | 11 | Ash Samadi | Royal Purple Oil/Garth Walden | 2:05.0425 | 0:07.3112 |
| 22 | 39 | Adrian Mastronardo | Adrian Mastronardo | 2:07.3406 | 0:09.6093 |
| 23 | 71 | Dean Koutsoumidis | Equity-One | 2:07.9813 | 0:10.2500 |
*See below comprehensive Speedcafe.com guide to the Australian Grand Prix
