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Nathan Pretty’s
prospects for round five of the Australian Nations Cup Championship are looking
good after he claimed his first pole position in the series in qualifying at
Eastern Creek International Raceway, near Sydney, today.
Racing this weekend on the 3.9-kilometre circuit for the first time, Pretty set
a blistering lap time of 1 minute 32.02 seconds in his Garry Rogers Motorsport
Holden Monaro.
“I’ve been trying a long time and come close, but this is actually my first time
on pole in Nations Cup. I’m pretty happy,” said Pretty, who joined the series
for GT sports cars at the beginning of last year.
Pretty set his time with 'green' unused tyres on the Bathurst 24-Hour winning
Monaro just seven laps into the session and then waited for a challenge that
never came from series leader Paul Stokell.
Stokell’s fastest was more than a second slower, but he said it was the best he
could extract from his Lamborghini Diablo.
“That was as much as I had, but it wasn’t enough. It was as fast as I wanted to
go,” Stokell commented. “I didn’t expect to get hosed off by a second.”
The starting grid for the first of two championship heats tomorrow will see
James Brock, in another GT class Monaro and David Stevens, in a Porsche 911 GT2,
on the second row.
Peter Brock’s son made a strong debut in the family’s new 'home-built' Monaro,
setting a time of 1:34.30.
Theo Koundouris took pole position aboard a Porsche GT3 Cup in the Trophy class
with John Teulan in his familar Ferrari 360 Challenge third.
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Paul
Stokell in the Lamborghini Australia-run Diablo GTR was unable to match
the pace of Nathan Pretty's Holden Monaro, eventually winding up on the
outside of the front row, one and a half seconds adrift. |
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John
Teulan, in the Industry Central-backed Ferrari 360 Challenge, claimed
third place on the grid in the Cup category at Eastern Creek, three
seconds behind pole winning Theo Koundouris in a Porsche GT3 Cup. |
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