Duvashen Padayachee emerged quickest in the opening qualifying session for the Australian GT Hampton Downs 101.
The Walkinshaw Racing driver managed to clock a 1:30.80s to put the Porsche 911 GT3-R on top beating the Eggleston Motorsport Mercedes AMG GT3 of Peter Hackett by 0.7s.
Qualifying will be held over two 25 minutes sessions, one for each driver, with the combined times averaged to determine the cars that will progress to the Top 10 shootout this afternoon.
Tekno Autosports McLaren driver Grant Denyer set the initial pace before he was eclipsed by Hackett and then Roger Lago in the Lago Racing Lamborghni.
Lago’s stay at the top was short-lived as Padayachee hooked up a 1:31.6s to surge back to the top.
The session developed into a battle between Padayachee and Hackett as the pair swapped times at the top of the time sheets.
Hackett responded shaving a tenth off the benchmark before Padayachee leapt into the 1:30.8s bracket.
The session was briefly halted with five minutes remaining after Sam Fillmore came to a halt on circuit with damage to the left rear of his Trass Family Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3.
A late effort from Andrew Miedecke put the #95 Miedecke Stone Racing Aston Martin in third ahead of series leader Denyer, who shares his McLaren 650S with Nathan Morcom.
The Kelly Racing Nissan GT-R, piloted by GT Academy winner Matt Simmons, was fifth just ahead of Lago.
Tony Quinn popped his Aston Martin into seventh while drift star Mike Whiddett impressed in eighth behind the wheel of the #37 McLaren 650S.
Simon Ellingham (Audi R8) and Theo Koundouris (Audi R8) rounded out the top 10.
Result: Australian Endurance Championship Hampton Downs 101 Qualifying 1
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