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Ryan Wood has beaten championship leader Thomas Sargent to take pole in Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia Series Qualifying in Mount Panorama.
The 20-minute session ended with rain falling after Wood posted the fastest time of 2:07:9652 for this afternoon’s Race One.
“In practice I popped a tyre on Lap three and ended up in the tyre wall at Turn 2, but I was lucky with the damage thanks to the tyres,” Wood said.
“The Earl Bamber Motorsport guys did an absolutely amazing job to fix the car during the first practice, to allow me to go out and check everything was still all right. The car was an absolute gem in qualifying and we poled it. Huge credit to the team and Porsche Team New Zealand, I wouldn’t have my first pole at Bathurst if it wasn’t without them, so huge thanks to them.”
Wood stamped his authority early with a 2:11:70, closely followed by the #23 of Lachlan Bloxsom with a 2:13:88.
Championship leader Thomas Sargent, who was fastest in morning Practice around Mount Panorama, could only manage a 2:14.60 in the #47.
Wood went even faster with what would be the pole time of 2:07:96, Sargent improving with a best of 2:08:90 to secure second on the grid.
With five minutes to go, the field proceeded to pit lane as the rain began to fall.
The order was Wood, Sargent, Shahin with a 2:10:45, Shields recording 2:10:82 and Bloxsom spreading the top five by three seconds with 2:11:08.
Shahin’s time saw him top the Pro-Am class ahead of Stutterd, who posted a 2:13:81.
“This track is always interesting, we seem to dial in a bit of rain the moment you put some Porsches on it,” Shahin said. “The rain really came right on as everyone was teeing up to have some flying laps, it got pretty slippery at the top of the mountain and through Turn 1. I actually looped it on the exit of Turn 1 and thought enough was enough, as it was only going to get more ugly from there on.”
Rounding out the top five for that class was Brett Boulton 2:14:48, Eric Constantinidis 2:15:37 and Sam Fillmore 2:15:81.
The 26-car field was separated by 17 seconds at the end of the session.
Race One of Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia Series is at 15:55 AEST in Mount Panorama.
