Mostert bags TCR pole at Phillip Island

Chaz Mostert has put his Audi on pole position for the opening race of Round 2 of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series at Phillip Island.

The Friday pace-setter clocked the fastest two laps of Qualifying 2, a 10-minute hit-out which set the top 10 grid positions, with Luke King next-best in another Audi.

Alfa Romeo drivers Lee Holdsworth and Michael Caruso will share Row 2 of the grid for the start of this afternoon’s 15-lapper, while Ben Bargwanna ended up fifth in a Peugeot.

Holdsworth was fastest after the first flyers in Qualifying 2 with a 1:36.1505s and bettered that next time around with a 1:36.0996s.

Mostert cracked the first ‘35’ of the weekend when he wheeled the #25 RS 3 to a 1:35.7318s on his second timed lap, and improved further to a 1:35.6708s on his subsequent tour.

In the meantime, King had set a 1:35.9501s which was good enough for second on the grid, while Holdsworth’s 36-flat left him third.

Caruso was a late mover, sitting 10th before he rolled out a 1:36.2468s, which included the fastest second sector, just before the chequered flag.

That put the junior Bargwanna in the field back to fifth, ahead of John Martin (Honda), Qualifying 1 fast man Nathan Morcom (Hyundai), Aaron Cameron (Peugeot), Josh Buchan (Hyundai), and Tony D’Alberto (Honda).

Dylan O’Keeffe (Renault) was first on the outside in the opening stanza of qualifying, having been bumped from the top 10 by King in the penultimate minute.

Fellow Megane driver James Moffat ended up 15th, series leader Jordan Cox (Alfa Romeo) 16th, and Jason Bargwanna (Peugeot) 17th.

Race 1 of the weekend is due to start at 14:25 local time/AEDT.

Results: Qualifying 2

Results: Qualifying 1