Klien trumps Baird in Australian GT quaifying
Australian GT rookie Christian Klien will start from pole in his AMG SLS GT3
Austrian import Christian Klien has edged out Erebus Motorsport team-mate Craig Baird to take pole for Round 2 of the 2013 Australian GT Championship in Adelaide.
Klien improved his earlier best practice effort by 0.7s in the evening’s qualifying session to emerge 0.44s quicker than the Kiwi.
Reigning champion Klark Quinn was the best of the rest in third, albeit some 1.2s adrift of pole.
Roger Lago, driving a borrowed Lamborghini after his new mount was crashed at Bathurst, managed fourth ahead of fellow Gallardo pilot Justin McMillan.
Local driver Andrew Taplin made a promising start to his one-off outing in the championship with sixth, while the first of the Trophy Class competitors, Jordan Ormsby, was seventh.
Kevin Weeks, Dean Koutsoumidis and Michael Almond completed the top 10.
Melbourne Performance Centre Audi driver Rod Salmon endured a wild half-spin through the first chicane mid-session on his way to 11th.
The Australian GT cars get a rest day tomorrow and will return to the track for its first race of the weekend on Saturday at 1710 Adelaide time.
In other on track news in Adelaide, the Aussie Racing Cars had its first race of the season this afternoon, with series returnee Adam Gowans taking the race win.
The 2009 class champion was rarely challenged at the front of the field, resisting the pressure from Trent Young to secure the win.
Young finished a clear second of Maurice Masini, with Brendon Pingel, Nathan Townsend, Travis Edwards, Sean Carter, Darren Chamberlin, Gus Robbins and Adam Uebergang rounding out the top 10.