Phillip Island Wrap: Golding bags S5000 pole

S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship

James Golding has qualified on pole position for Round 2 of the S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship at Phillip Island by a margin of more than four tenths of a second.

After an early red flag, before anyone had the chance to set a lap time, Golding regularly moved the benchmark.

The Garry Rogers Motorsport driver was second-quickest after the first flyers on a 1:26.3566s but eventually got down to a 1:24.8126s before pitting in the final two minutes of the session.

Team BRM’s Joey Mawson was best of the rest on a 1:25.2496s, with Cooper Webster (Versa Motorsport) third on a 1:25.5222s and Kaleb Ngatoa (Team BRM) fourth on a 1:25.5449s.

Rounding out the nine-car field were championship leader Tim Macrow, Zane Goddard, Blake Purdie, Shae Davies, and Adam Garwood.

Races 1 and 2 take place tomorrow at 12:00 and 15:30 local time/AEDT, as part of the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships.

Australian Formula Ford Series

Valentino Astuti has pipped Winston Smith to pole position for Round 2 of the Australian Formula Ford Series.

In a top 10 covered by less than one second, Astuti went as fast as a 1:37.9366s and Smith a 1:37.9487s.

Cody Donald, who is one point off the series lead, qualified third on a 1:38.1233s and will be joined on Row 2 for the start of Race 1 by James Piszcyk.

Cameron McLeod went fifth-fastest and is due to start alongside series leader Jordyn Sinni.

The rest of the top 10 was Jude Bargwanna, Clay Richards, Kye Cavedon, and Xavier Kokai.

Races 1 and 2 will be held tomorrow from 09:05 and 13:10 local time/AEDT.

Turtle Wax Trans Am Series

Ben Grice topped practice for Round 2 of the National Trans Am Series, going at least half a second quicker than anyone else.

The majority of the field set their respective fastest laps in Practice 1, including Grice and Nathan Herne, the former clocking a 1:34.3642s and the latter a personal-best 1:34.9100s.

Owen Kelly, Kyle Gurton, and Nic Caroll rounded out the top five, series leader Tim Brook was seventh on a 1:35.8609s, and TA2 Round 1 winner Nash Morris ended up ninth-quickest on combined times on a 1:36.5467s in the Supercheap Auto car.

The Trans Ams are next on track tomorrow at 10:10 local time/AEDT for Qualifying, followed by Race 1 at 14:55.

Other competitions

Practice for Round 2 of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series was topped by Melbourne Performance Centre Audi driver Jay Hanson.

An Audi was also fastest in Qualifying 2 for Round 1 of Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS, in the hands of Chaz Mostert, while Trophy class Nissan driver Brett Hobson bagged pole for Race 1.

Stan Sport’s live and ad-free coverage of the event starts tomorrow at 11:00 AEDT.