Joey Mawson has extended his VHT S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship lead with the final pole position of the season, at Sydney Motorsport Park.

The Team BRM driver prevailed in what was effectively a duel between him and James Golding (Garry Rogers Motorsport), those two separated by 0.2843s at the conclusion of the 20-minute hit-out.

Mawson was also several positions clear of his key title rivals, with Tim Macrow (Tim Macrow Racing) fifth and team-mate Thomas Randle sixth.

In a session which began at 17:25 local time, deep into Western Sydney’s twilight, it was Golding, the practice fast man, who was quickest initially on a 1:28.5705s.

Mawson clocked a 1:24.9229s next time around but Golding hit back with a 1:24.0128s on this third lap and that remained the benchmark for a handful of minutes.

After Mawson rolled out a 1:23.6524s on his sixth lap, just before the halfway mark, he would not be bettered again.

The Sydney native logged a 1:23.6271s on his seventh lap, as Golding similarly improved his time but not his position in setting a 1:23.9114s.

Mawson threatened to go even faster, and a 1:23.8519s on his eighth lap means he in fact owns the three best times of the session, but Golding had not further advances anyway.

Nathan Herne was a relatively late mover to third with a 1:24.1741s and is set to share the second row with GRM team-mate Luis Leeds, whose paciest lap was a 1:24.1915s.

Macrow’s personal best was a 1:24.3664s while Randle ended up with a time of 1:24.4056s, with the latter now 45 points back from Mawson and a total of 120 on offer across the weekend’s three races.

Rounding out the 10-car field in Qualifying were Ricky Capo, Kaleb Ngatoa, Cooper Webster, and Braydan Willmington.

Heat 1 at the Sydney round of the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships starts tomorrow at 10:45 local time/AEST.

Results: Qualifying