Mostert/Talbot sweep GT poles

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: August 24, 2024

The #1 Arise Racing Ferrari of Chaz Mostert and Liam Talbot was unbeatable over one lap at Phillip Island, topping both GT World Challenge Australia qualifying sessions.

Mostert and Talbot dominated their respective sessions to take both poles on offer in rounds 8 and 9.

Mostert’s 1:25.5023 was well clear of Jayden Ojeda in the opening segment, while Talbot kept the good times rolling by posting a 1:26.4503 in Q2, three tenths ahead of Brad Schumacher.

Under beautifully sunny skies, the #1 Ferrari looks extremely tough to beat when the first one-hour race is at 15.50 AEST.

Qualifying 1

Declan Fraser early benchmark but was just edged out by Brendon Leitch by a meagre 0.0169s, only for Jaxon Evans to sneak ahead of both of them with a 1:26.0315.

But this was just the first sign the pace was stepping up as Mostert shot well clear to make it a Ferrari 1-2.

He had opened a large 0.4894s advantage over his teammate before the red flag arrived.

The session resumed with two and a half minutes left and the Ferraris were the ones to beat being the only cars in the 1m25s window.

One driver that was not improving was Leitch as he had a high speed off coming out of Southern Loop. Despite the moment the Kiwi stayed fifth.

Ojeda was able to deliver and went up four spots to dislodge the Ferrari front row as Brown joined the top four.

Evans was on a fast lap, but got caught in traffic towards the end of his lap and stayed third.

Brown was one of the few drivers able to enjoy a second crack, but could not improve.

Qualifying 2

Boosted by Mostert’s pace, Talbot threw down the gauntlet with his opening flyer, recording a 1:27.6973.

He was in a league of his own in the 1m27s area as Garth Walden’s 1:28.3836 was second best, while Schumacher rounded out the top three.

But the reigning champion was not done there as the #1 Ferrari found more speed on each lap and kept lowering the benchmark to a 1:26.6016.

Teammate Elliott Schutte waited until his fourth lap to go on full attack and leaped to fourth.

At the halfway mark the fight for second was being led by Garth Walden ahead of Schumacher, who were four tenths away from the ultimate pace.

But they were soon joined by Paul Stokell as he inserted himself into the top three.

Schumacher also had the foot down and managed to impressively improve to second and cut Talbot’s advantage down to just a tenth.

However, the #87 Audi got caught out by the wind on the following trip out of Southern Loop and found the edge of the gravel.

Due to pedal dramas, Peter Hackett had to wait until the 11 and a half minute mark to finally leave the pits and secured sixth on his second flying lap.

With the field improving, Talbot made sure his pole was secure by finding even more time inside the final two minutes.

He opened his advantage to three tenths with a late 1:26.4503, which secured pole.

It then became a question of who will fill the remaining spots at the front of the grid.

Schumacher managed to hold onto a front row berth just 0.04s ahead of Rosser and Stokell.

Despite losing some time in the last sector, Hackett still improved with his final attempt and snatched fifth.

Qualifying 1 results

Qualifying 2 results

Image: RACE PROJECT

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