Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia 

Oscar Targett will lead the field in race one of Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge after claiming pole position in a thrilling qualifying session.  

The Grove Racing driver put in a fantastic lap late in the session to edge series leader, Marco Giltrap by just four-hundredths of a second, while Marcos Flack put his Sonic Motor Racing/Rosche Porsche on the second row alongside TekworkX Motorsport’s Hamish Fitzsimmons. 

The top three were alternating positions all day long, with Queenslander Flack leading the way after first practice in the morning, before falling short to Giltrap in the second session. 

It has been an impressive start to the weekend for McElrea Racing newcomer, Clay Osborne after finding himself in the top five in both practice sessions before qualifying in eighth, while Lachlan Bloxsom was also among the fastest qualifying in sixth.  

The first race for Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia will kick off at 11:55am ACDT on Saturday. 

Workhorse Radical Cup Australia 

Competitors will be eager to get going for qualifying Saturday morning after three exciting practice sessions on the opening day of action for Workhorse Radical Cup Australia at The Bend.  

The opening practice saw series leader, Alex Gardner go fastest in what is an important round for his title aspirations, topping Western Australian, Adam Lisle by three-tenths of a second.  

Title contender, Elliott Schutte finished third in the session but would go on to lead the second practice ahead of Cooper Cutts. Reigning champion, Chris Perini would round out the top three on his return to the category. 

After claiming second in practice two, Cutts would make the final one for the day his own, with Schutte and Perini rounding out the top three places. 

Workhorse Radical Cup Australia will take to the track for qualifying at 10:45am ACDT on Saturday.  

Australian Prototype Series 

It has been a fantastic start to the weekend for Mark Laucke after going fastest in two of the three Australian Prototype Series practice sessions for the day.

The series-veteran was almost a whole second faster in his Wolf GB08 Tornado than Phill Hughes in practice one, while Miles Lacey was almost a further one and a half seconds back in third place.  

The second practice saw Laucke again go fastest, but it was Jason Makris in the Wolf Tornado who implemented himself into the top two, sitting almost eight-tenths of a second back.  

However, the third and final practice session of the day belonged to Garnet Patterson, who was on another level with no driver able to come within one second of him all session long.  

Laucke would have to settle for second place, while Lacey would work his way back into the top three as the only other driver to come within two seconds of the session leader.  

Australian Prototype Series will undertake qualifying bright and early at 8:35am ACDT on Saturday.  

Mobil 1 Australian Production Cars and Monochrome Invited Australia 

Shane Smollen and Ricky Capo dominated the day’s action in the combined series by topping both  practice sessions and taking pole position in the final on-track session of the day.  

Mark Griffith was the closest Monochrome Invited competitor and will start alongside Smollen and Capo for race one, with Jacob Lawrence leading the second row.  

Alongside Lawrence will be the lead Mobil 1 Australian Production Car Series competitor, Shane Smollen – who claimed an emphatic category pole position over Iain Sherrin.  

The dominance was shown from Smollen and Capo throughout the entirety of the day, finishing almost two seconds ahead of Griffith in practice one before breaking the threshold in the following session, this time ahead of Lawrence.  

Coleby Cowham and Lindsay Kearns looked like the drivers to beat in the APC category during practice but would have to settle for third in class and sixth outright in qualifying.  

The combined series will feature in its first of four one-hour episodes at 9:35am ACDT on Saturday.  

Australian Formula Ford Series 

It was just the two practice sessions for Australian Formula Ford Series on Friday, with champion-elect Matt Hillyer the driver to beat on both occasions.
  

Three-tenths of a second was the gap to second place runner, Jack Bussey in opening practice, with Conor Somers and Eddy Beswick following closely behind in a session that saw nine drivers finish within one second of Hillyer.  

The series leader would then slightly improve on his time in the second practice, but this time it was Jake Santalucia who would insert himself as a potential contender for pole position on Saturday after coming within four-tenths of a second.  

Tom Davies would finish the session in third and it was another great showing for Somers, who once again finished among the top four runners.  

Australian Formula Ford Series will jump straight into qualifying at 9:05am ACDT on Saturday to determine the grid for the afternoons opening race.  

MARC Cars Australia 

Daniel Stuttard and Geoff Taunton would share the honours across the three MARC Cars Australia practice session on Friday, with the former looking the early favourite ahead of qualifying on Saturday.  

Stuttard dominated the first practice session in his MARC GT to finish more than one second ahead of Taunton, before backing up his efforts in practice two – but this time doubling the gap.  

Just when it looked like he was untouchable, Taunton would then go out and post the fastest time in the third and final practice session of the day, with Stuttard having to settle for second.  

While the two battled for the top positions, Adam Hargraves and John Goodacre would see a similar fight for third and fourth respectively, with hargraves gaining the upper hand across the final two sessions.  

Rounding out the top five in all three sessions was Cameron McLeod, who will be eager to run closer to the GT’s come qualifying tomorrow.  

MARC Cars Australia will get underway with qualifying at 11:25am ACDT on Saturday.  

Burson Auto Parts Circuit Excel SA 

A single practice session and a qualifying session would make up the opening days action for Burson Auto Parts Circuit Excel SA, with Charlie Nash the early driver to beat after topping both sessions.  

The tone was set early in practice when Nash went two tenths of a second faster than Shayne Nowickyj in second, with Kim Anderson a while back in third place.  

The gap would then shoot out to an emphatic eight tenths of a second in qualifying, again over Nowickyj. But this time, Anderson would have to settle for fourth after Mitchell McGarry jumped the former to lead the front row ahead of Saturday’s race.  

Burson Auto Parts Circuit Excel SA will have its first of three races for the weekend first thing Saturday morning at 8:05am ACDT.