Alex Davison takes Pro driver fastest qualifying time

Accomplished Porsche racer Alex Davison has rocketted to the fastest time in the qualifying session for Pro drivers at the Rennsport Motor Racing Festival at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Davison (#24 Pure Energy/N2U) unleashed a 1:30.7481s lap to narrowly claim the fastest time ahead of Steve Owen (#47 Supabarn Supermarkets) in 1:30.7510s.

The Kiwi driver Jonny Reid, who was called up at the last minute to replace Lee Holdsworth who had been delayed in the US after the V8 Supercars meeting, was third quickest.

Steve Richards (1:30.9394s) and Tim Slade (1:30.956s) were next fastest.

Championship leading Craig Baird was 11th fastest in the session.

Davison had shown decent speed in the practice sessions and was stoked to top the times in what is being claimed as the strongest line-up of talent in Australian Carrera Cup field history.

“I was surprised because the car doesn’t feel that good,” Davison told Speedcafe.com

“I had dramas in practice with the brakes but we were able to rectify that.

“We still have work to do to get the balance a bit better so I’m not confident we have got a good race package yet.

“Everyone has been saying that they wanted to get on the pole so I’m stoked that it was me.”

Davison’s team-mate Tony Bates was seventh fastest in the session for Elite drivers which was topped by Adam Gowans.

However on combined times the pole position has been taken by Steve Owen and James Koundouris with Shae Davies and Adam Gowans starting in second.

Davison/Bates will start from third ahead of Warren Luff/Geoff Emery.

Baird and his partner John Penny will start from 12th after finishing with an accumulated time of 3:04.925s, 1.6s slower than Owen and Koundouris.

Both Pro and Elite drivers must start in at least one of the two one-hour heats tomorrow with the driver change window set between 25-35 minutes into the races.

Results: Carrera Cup Pro driver qualifying

1	Pure Energy/ N2U	Alex Davison (QLD)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:30.7481
2	Supabarn Supermarkets	Steve Owen (QLD)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:30.7510
3	Hallmarc	Jonny Reid (NZ)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:30.9374
4	Laser Plumbing & Electrical	Steven Richards (VIC)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:30.9394
5	Hallmarc	Tim Slade (VIC)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:30.9565
6	Grove Group	Earl Bamber (NZ)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:30.9812
7	No Second Chance	Warren Luff (NSW)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:31.0132
8	Ausdrill – Onsite Racing	Michael Patrizi (WA)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:31.0673
9	Coates Hire Racing	Nicholas Percat (SA)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:31.1739
10	Rosche Visper	David Wall (NSW)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:31.2960
11	Jet Travel Insurance	Craig Baird (NZ)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:31.3736
12	Porsche Centre Brighton	Dale Wood (VIC)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:31.3812
13	Permagard Automotive	Luke Youlden (VIC)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:31.5154
14	Team Kiwi Racing	Shae Davies (NZ)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:31.5777
15	Action Tyres and More	Matthew Kingsley (QLD)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:31.6035
16	Objective Racing	James Davison (USA)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:31.6058
17	GT3 Factory / Wrap My Ride	Richard Muscat (VIC)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:31.6334
18	McGrath Estate Agents	David Russell (QLD)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:31.6945
19	Malibu Boats	Andrew Jones (NSW)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:32.1205
20	Team BRM / Rentcorp  NSWProperty	Duvashen Padayachee	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:32.1947
21	Fujitsu Racing	Renee Gracie (QLD)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:34.3596

Results: Carrera Cup Elite driver qualifying

1	Team Kiwi Racing	Adam Gowans (TAS)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:32.1324
2	Supabarn Supermarkets	James Koundouris (ACT)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:32.5645
3	Permagard Automotive	Max Twigg (VIC)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:32.7849
4	No Second Chance	Geoff Emery (VIC)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:32.8868
5	Ausdrill – Onsite Racing	Troy Bayliss (QLD)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:32.9566
6	Action Tyres and More	John Goodacre (SA)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:33.0093
7	Pure Energy/ N2U	Tony Bates (VIC)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:33.0765
8	McGrath Estate Agents	Shane Smollen (NSW)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:33.1924
9	Laser Plumbing & Electrical	Theo Koundouris (ACT)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:33.3125
10	Coates Hire Racing	Rodney Jane (VIC)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:33.5471
11	Jet Travel Insurance	John Penny (NZ)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:33.5508
12	Objective Racing	Tony Walls (NSW)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:33.5737
13	Rosche Visper	Damien Flack (QLD)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:33.7043
14	Hallmarc	Michael Loccisano (VIC)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:33.7478
15	Porsche Centre Brighton	James Bergmuller (VIC)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:33.8011
16	Fujitsu Racing	Peter Hill (VIC)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:33.8267
17	Team BRM / Rentcorp   (VIC)         Property	Jeff Bobik	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:34.2314
18	Hallmarc	Marc Cini (VIC)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:34.3558
19	Grove Group	Stephen Grove (VIC)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:34.7136
20	Malibu Boats	Xavier West (NSW)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:34.9840
21	GT3 Factory / Wrap My Ride	Simon Middleton (VIC)	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	1:35.5288

Starting grid based on combined times from the Pro and Elite driver qualifying

1	Steve Owen/James Koundouris	3:03.316s
2	Shae Davies/Adam Gowans	3:03.710
3	Alex Davison/Tony Bates	3:03.825
4	Warren Luff/Geoff Emery	3:03900
5	Michael Patrizi/Troy Bayliss	3:04.024
6	Steven Richards/Theo Koundouris	3:04.252
7	Luke Youlden/Max Twigg	3:04.300
8	Matthew Kingsley/John Goodacre	3:04.613
9	Jonny Reid/Michael Loccisano	3:04.685
10	Nicholas Percat/Rodney Jane	3:04.721
11	David Russell/Shane Smollen	3:04.887
12	Craig Baird/John Penny	3:04.925
13	David Wall/Damien Flack	3:05.000
14	James Davison/Tony Walls	3:05.180
15	Dale Wood/James Bergmuller	3:05.182
16	Tim Slade/Marc Cini	3:05.313
17	Earl Bamber/Stephen Grove	3:05.695
18	Duvashen Padayachee/Jeff Bobik	3:06.426
19	Andrew Jones/Xavier West	3:07.105
20	Richard Muscat/Simon Middleton	3:07.162
21	Renne Gracie/Peter Hill	3:08.187

 

Here is the interview with Steve Owen and James Koundouris who will start from the pole