Nick Percat takes pole on Porsche debut

Nick Percat will start his first ever Carrera Cup Australia race from pole position after edging out Craig Baird in qualifying at the Clipsal 500.

Percat, who has joined the all-Porsche class this season following three years in V8 Supercars’ second-tier Dunlop Series, set the pole time of 1:22.60s on his final of five consecutive hot laps to finish the session.

Baird missed knocking off the young South Australian by 0.19s, while fellow V8 Supercars endurance co-drivers Warren Luff and Steven Richards will make up the second row of the Race 1 grid.

Shae Davies, Karl Reindler, Steven Johnson and Matt Kingsley filled fifth through eighth, while the first of the Elite Class runners, Damien Flack and James Koundouris, completed the top 10.

Michael Patrizi triggered the only red flag, with the West Australian’s damaged Porsche needing to be recovered after an incident at Turn 8.

The first of three races for the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia will take place at 1430 tomorrow.

See below for the full qualifying result

1	Coates Hire Racing	Nicholas Percat (SA)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:22.6031
2	Jet Travel Insurance	Craig Baird (NZ)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:22.7900	0:00.1869
3	N2C/Phase 8	Warren Luff (NSW)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:22.9499	0:00.3468
4	Laser Plumbing & Electrical	Steven Richards (Vic)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:22.9917	0:00.3886
5	Team Kiwi Racing	Shae Davies (QLD)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:23.3756	0:00.7725
6	Rusty French Racing/Skye Sands	Karl Reindler (WA)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:23.4305	0:00.8274
7	Hunter Sports Group	Steven Johnson (QLD)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:23.5180	0:00.9149
8	Action Tyres & More	Matthew Kingsley (Qld)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:23.8752	0:01.2721
9	Direct Nappy Supplies	Damien Flack (Qld)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:24.0687	0:01.4656
10	Supabarn Supermarkets	James Koundouris (ACT)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:24.4653	0:01.8622
11	AFS/Pure Energy/N2C	Tony Bates (Vic)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:24.7167	0:02.1136
12	Team BRM/Rentcorp Property Grp	Duvashen Padayachee NSW	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:24.8277	0:02.2246
13	McGrath Estate Agents	Shane Smollen (NSW)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:24.9768	0:02.3737
14	Permagard Automotive	Max Twigg (Vic)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:25.0757	0:02.4726
15	Hallmarc	Marc Cini (Vic)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:25.7054	0:03.1023
16	Grove Group	Stephen Grove (Vic)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:26.1540	0:03.5509
17	Porsche Centre Brighton	James Bergmuller (Vic)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:26.3128	0:03.7097
18	Hallmarc	Michael Loccisano (Vic)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:26.3792	0:03.7761
19	Objective Racing	Tony Walls (NSW)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:27.8353	0:05.2322
20	Fujitsu Racing	Renee Gracie (Qld)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:28.4643	0:05.8612
21	Ausdrill/Onsite Racing	Michael Patrizi (WA)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:31.0480	0:08.4449