A 30-minute shootout for pole position has delivered New Zealand star Brock Gilchrist his first one-make Porsche pole, grabbing the top spot by a tiny margin at Shell V-Power Raceway in Round 2 of Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge. 

An initially damp track saw a long build before fast times could be set with Gilchrist’s 1m18.9762s best set on his 17th and final lap of the session.

The 20-year-old from Auckland became the third different driver to score a Sprint Challenge pole for Team Porsche NZ, following in the footsteps of Ryan Wood and Marco Giltrap.

His Team Porsche NZ GT3 Cup Car took the top spot by 0.025s over Clay Osborne, who has been quick since the first session of the weekend.

Conor Somers was another to record a personal best result in Qualifying, his Sonic entry making it three teams in the top three with an outstanding third-place effort.

Oscar Targett will start race one on the outside of the second row, with Jake Santalucia in fifth position and Aron Shields in sixth.

The top six cars were covered by just 0.2276 seconds with everyone setting their best laps deep in the 30-minute session.

Championship leader Caleb Sumich was next with Hamish Fitzsimmons eighth but facing down a three grid position penalty for impeding another competitors in the busy session – 30 cars struggling to find pace on the 3.41km circuit.

Ayrton Hodson and Tyler Greenbury completed the top-10 runners with the first five rows covered by just 0.7 seconds.

In Pro-Am, Ramu Farrell continued his strong run of form by taking the class pole and grabbing 11th outright.

David Grieg was a strong second in class and will line up directly alongside Farrell on the sixth row of the grid, with Brett Boulton right behind.

Brad Carr was on top in Class B and a strong 15th outright.

The first of three races in Round 2 of Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia will start at 1:35pm local time and will be broadcast live on 7plus.