Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Ryan Wood has topped his second Super2 qualifying session of the day and will start Sunday’s season-finale at the Adelaide 500 from pole.
The result sees him claim the 2023 Super2 Pole Champion Award, taking four for the season, one more than championship leader Zak Best.
While he only took the top spot in the opening session for Saturday’s race by 0.1201 seconds, things were much tighter this time out, with less than one-tenth separating the top three.
Championship leader Zak Best set a best time of 1:19.3089 seconds, falling just 0.0289 seconds short of Wood’s lap record 1:19.2800.
Zach Bates, also of Walkinshaw Andretti United, starts third, falling 0.0990 seconds short of his pole-setting teammate, with title contender Kai Allen going fourth fastest.
Cameron Crick and Jay Hansen round out the top six, all having gone under the previous lap record set by Declan Fraser last year.
The threat of rain lingered in the air ahead of the session, with light drizzle and a quickly cooling track seeing competitors make several runs early.
Bates set the benchmark in the opening stages of qualifying, his 1:19.7301 being just 0.04 seconds faster than Best. Times continued to improve over the final six minutes, with Allen briefly jumping to the top before being jumped by Wood, Bates and Best, respectively.
Wood reclaimed the top spot entering the final three minutes, his 1:19.2800 leading the way before a red flag brought an early end to proceedings for the second time today.
A spin for Callum Walker at Turn 7 saw an approaching Nash Morris left with nowhere to go except into the outside wall.
The Dunlop Series will return to the track at 3.55 pm tomorrow for their opening race, with the season finale at 3.50 pm on Sunday.
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