Supercars star Chaz Mostert set a blistering time to secure pole position for the Bathurst 12 Hours for BMW.
The Ford Tickford Racer, who is piloting the #43 BMW Team Schnitzer M6, set a time of 2 minutes 1.9340 seconds to pip Audi’s Kelvin van der Linde by 0.2357 seconds to secure the Allan Simonsen Trophy for pole position
“It’s pretty surreal … for me it’s probably one of the best pole positions I’ve ever got,” Mostert told Channel 7.
“We were close last year in the Pro-Am entry, but it’s great to get the pole this time with Schnitzer Motorsport.”
Although pole position is not traditionally an advantage in a Bathurst endurance race, with the 12 hours begins in pitch darkness, being first on the road will be crucial to avoid any chaos.
“It reduces the risk completely,” he said.
“In the dark here with the lights and stuff, the risk is much higher to end up out of the race.”
Mostert will share the #43 BMW with Marco Wittmann and Augusto Farfus.
van der Linde lines up alongside Mostert, an impressive achievement on his first visit to the mountain, just ahead of Jamec-Pem Audi team-mate Christopher Haase in third place.
Matt Campbell in the #12 Porsche was lying fourth but on his final lap, he ran wide at Hell Corner and unable to improve his time fell to 10th on the grid.
Instead Luke Youlden in the #777 Buik Lamborghini secured the final spot on row two.
Several big names missed out on a spot in the Top 10 Shootout in yesterday’s qualifying sessions.
Reigning race winner Jamie Whincup will start from 15th in the #75 Mercedes he shares with Kenny Habul, Tristan Vautier and Raffaele Marciello, while 2016 Bathurst 1000 winner Will Davison will start down in 18th, four spots ahead of last year’s victory David Reynolds’ Mercedes.