OSCAR TARGETT has slammed home the quickest lap in qualifying to score the first pole position of the 2024 Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia season, at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit. 

The Queensland teenager set a Sprint Challenge-record 1m30.3286s flyer to top a competitive session held in overcast conditions on a Friday afternoon.

RESULTS: https://www.porschesprintchallenge.com.au/results/

In the Pro-Am battle, Ramu Farrell put his Jones Motorsport-prepared car on pole position and 11th outright, pipping former Pro-Am winner Brett Boulton to the top spot by just one-tenth of a second, while Brad Carr took the top spot in Class B.

Targett’s lap was set mid-way through the session and stood for more than ten minutes as the time for rivals to beat – only for them all to fall short.

Having topped practice earlier in the day, Fitzsimmons nibbled away at Targett’s flyer however couldn’t beat the Earl Bamber Motorsport-run Porsche, despite improving on his tenth and final flying lap of the session.

Targett’s pole was the third of the Grove Racing Junior’s brief Porsche career – now just six rounds old – and came by 0.27s over Fitzsimmons.

Clay Osborne qualified third aboard his McElrea Racing-run entry while Conor Somers was fourth on his debut for Sonic Motor Racing, making it four teams in the top four.

Team Porsche NZ’s Brock Gilchrist was fifth on his debut in the championship, missing a spot on the second row of the grid by only 0.08s.

He’ll line up alongside another rookie in the form of Australian Formula Ford graduate, Jake Santalucia, who qualified his Sonic Porsche sixth.

Caleb Sumich ended his session in seventh with Tyler Greenbury eighth.

The former Australian Karting Champion is making a racing return this year having not competed at a national level since racing V8 Touring Cars more than six years ago.

Aron Shields was ninth aboard his DNA Autosport car with another rookie, Kiwi teenager Ayrton Hodson, completing the top 10.

Farrell and Boulton will line up side by side on the sixth row of the grid as they commence their battle for the Pro-Am title.

Brad Carr’s flyer was not only good enough for the Class B pole but also 13th outright and ahead of all bar two of the Pro-Am contenders in their later-model cars.

Jacque Jarjo was next in Class B with Stephen Moylan third in class.

26 cars will take the starter for Race 1 of the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia season on Saturday at Phillip Island, as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries Ford Mustang 60th anniversary Race Phillip Island event.

The Porsche field will race once on Saturday with the season opener to be shown live on 7plus and 7mate around Australia.

Sunday morning will see the first race in the Jim Richards’ Endurance Trophy season followed by a final sprint race, also to be shown on 7plus.