Dylan O’Keefe survived a near-miss on his fastest lap to claim pole position for the first carsales TCR Australia Series heat in the final leg of the championship at The Bend Motorsport Park, near Tailem Bend (SA).
The Alfa Romeo Giulietta driver scored his second pole of the championship (his first was at Phillip Island), despite an encounter with Chelsea Angelo in a Kelly Racing Holden Astra during a torrid 30-minute qualifying session.
“I could have been quicker. Chelsea got in the way,” O’Keefe reported after his qualifying run.
“She ruined my lap, so then I ruined hers. Still, it’s a good result. I’m happy. And I know it will be a good race car,” the Ash Seward Motorsport driver stated.
O’Keefe’s quickest time was comprehensively quicker than the carsales TCR cars managed at their first visit to The Bend, clocking 1min 55.6206sec to finish ahead of Will Brown in his Hyundai i30N, then Tony D’Alberto in a Honda Civic and Aaron Cameron in a Volkswagen Golf GTI. D'Alberto's lap record for the category stands at 1min57.4585.
Champion elect Brown was uncharacteristically off the pace in practice.
“The car was slow yesterday, but we got a new engine map overnight from Germany. That really helped with the top end,” reported Brown.
“I’m quite happy and I know we can race from here.”
The quick-fire qualifying session was packed with incidents, as half the 20-car field left the track at some time and Renault driver James Moffat was sidelined with a mechanical problem.
D’Alberto reported excessive understeer in his Honda Civic and a troubled qualifying run.
“Not my best. It was almost impossible to do a good lap,” he said.
“But the times are bloody fast, too. That was a tough session.”
Cameron, who is battling to secure second placing for the inaugural carsales TCR Australia, series ran strongly through the session but also made a mistake.
“It’s one that got away. I was pretty confident. But I got traffic on my last lap and it cost me around two-tenths,” he said.
But he was happier than Chris Pither, who twice fell off the road while running top-three pace in his Renault Megane RS.
“I didn’t maximise the potential. The first spin was my fault and the second time I had a brake problem,” Pither said.
“But it’s good for the confidence to know the car is quick and it should be racy.”
The first of three races in the final round of the inaugural carsales TCR Australia series takes place this afternoon.