Sandown S5000: Martin takes first pole by 0.01s
John Martin will start the first S5000 qualifying race from pole position, after edging Tim Macrow in qualifying at Sandown.
Through the convoluted qualifying format, topping the session didn't give Martin an automatic pole, rather the right to choose first in the grid draw for the first qualifying race.
Predictably he chose pole for today's race, which will be shown live on free-to-air TV in Australia, and will therefore start tomorrow's second qualifier from 10th.
Drivers faced tricky damp conditions to start the 20-minute session, most of the field first appearing on wet tyres.
Conditions quickly improved, however, Macrow swiftly taking control of the session once on slicks.
The practice pacesetter went quickest at the midway point with a 1m07.597s, before lowering the benchmark to 1m05.815s and then 1m05.225s as the session wore on.
With three minutes to go Martin made his move, a 1m05.127s putting him top.
Macrow did his best to hit back at the flag, improving on his time but still falling 0.13s short of Martin.
Macrow and Barrichello, who was third fastest, elected to keep their start spots, while Ricky Capo chose P6 after being fourth in the session.
That shifted James Golding up to fourth for the first qualifying race, Bart Mawer the big winner from the draw, picking fifth after actually qualifying 10th.
Matt Brabham chose to swap his sixth spot for ninth, he and Will Brown set to start tomorrow's second qualifier from the front row, the latter choosing 10th for today's race.
Qualifying Race 1 grid
Position | Driver | Team |
1 | John Martin | AGI Sport |
2 | Tim Macrow | mtec Motorsport |
3 | Rubens Barrichello | Team BRM |
4 | James Golding | Garry Rogers Motorpsort |
5 | Barton Mawer | Milldun Motorsport |
6 | Ricky Capo | Modena Engineering |
7 | Alex Davison | Team BRM |
8 | Tim Berryman | Team BRM |
9 | Matt Brabham | mtec Motorsport |
10 | Will Brown | Eggleston Motorsport |
11 | Taylor Cockerton | mtec Motorsport |
12 | Tom Aexander | AGI Sport |
13 | Michael Gibson | ACM Finance |
Qualifying Race 2 grid
Position | Driver | Team |
1 | Will Brown | Eggleston Motorsport |
2 | Matt Brabham | mtec Motorsport |
3 | Tim Berryman | Team BRM |
4 | Alex Davison | Team BRM |
5 | Ricky Capo | Modena Engineering |
6 | Barton Mawer | Milldun Motorsport |
7 | James Golding | Garry Rogers Motorpsort |
8 | Rubens Barrichello | Team BRM |
9 | Tim Macrow | mtec Motorsport |
10 | John Martin | AGI Sport |
11 | Taylor Cockerton | mtec Motorsport |
12 | Tom Aexander | AGI Sport |
13 | Michael Gibson | ACM Finance |
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