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Moffat on top in intriguing Trans Am qualifying
National Trans Am Series leader, James Moffat has secured his third pole position for the season after a dominant display in Friday’s qualifying session at Sydney Motorsport Park.
It only took one flying lap for Moffat to post a session-best 1:32.900 in his GRM Valvoline Ford Mustang, an impressive four-tenths of a second ahead the next best driver in Nash Morris.
However, the result didn’t come as easy as it might look on paper for the series leader, with an early gearchange issue forcing Moffat into an unplanned early pitstop.
The GRM crew did a fantastic job to get the Victorian back out on track in a timely manner, resulting in an emphatic pole position.
It was a fantastic result for The Racing Academy’s Elliott Cleary, who left it until late to post the third-fastest time ahead of Moffat’s closest title rival, Lochie Dalton.
Unlike Cleary, Dalton put all the work in early in the session before the team made the decision to save the tyres for the rest of the weekend – where the series will undertake four races in a single weekend for just the second time this year.
Rounding out the top five runners and leading the third row of the grid for race one will be the other Racing Academy entry, Cody Gillis.
Joining Gillis on the front row is Edan Thornburrow, who will be eager to turn his season around after five DNFs to his name so far this year.
There will be plenty of talented drivers starting from the midfield in race one, including privateer entries Tom Hayman and Elliot Barbour – who will start in seventh and 10th respectively.
Splitting the two in-form competitors is the valiant Brett Holdsworth and the returning Tim Brook, both also more than capable of working their way back through the field.
Chris Pappas will be more than satisfied with 14th place overall, ahead of his Hoosier Cup class rival Nick Lange, while Mark Crutcher was able to get the best of Craig Scutella a little further back as the battle continues in the Masters Cup.
The National Trans Am Series will return to the track for race one under the lights at 7:55pm AEDT.