CLAY OSBORNE has edged out Brock Gilchrist by less than one tenth of a second to score his maiden Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia pole position in a thrilling qualifying shootout at Symmons Plains Raceway. 

A gripping session saw the top spot swap hands on six occasions with Oscar Targett, Gilchrist and then Osborne late in the session all taking turns at the top of the timing screen at various points of the 30-minute session.

Targett held sway early before Gilchrist asserted himself on top as the field concluded their first efforts mid-session.

With fresh Michelins fitted, everyone went quicker on their second attempts with Gilchrist looking strong before Osborne charged to the top late.

His 51.9828s flyer stands as a qualifying record for Porsche’s at Symmons Plains and the second quickest ever Cup Car lap of the 2.41km venue – Gilchrist having gone marginally quicker earlier in the second practice session.

The 19-year-old Kiwi ultimately took pole by 0.0991 seconds with Gilchrist second and championship leader Targett starting third.

Osborne becomes the fourth different polesitter from the five rounds held to date this year, the effort doubling as McElrea Racing’s first of the year.

It means the driver third in the standings will start race one from pole, the driver second in points second and the title leader from the inside of the third row of the grid.

Fourth was Ayrton Hodson – 0.26 seconds behind pole – to continue his strong run of qualifying form while Caleb Sumich set the fifth quickest time in his McElrea entry.

Conor Somers was a strong sixth for Sonic, a worthy return for the Victorian talent following a ground-up rebuild of his #71 GT3 Cup Car following his spectacular Townsville rollover.

His teammate Jake Santalucia followed with Tyler Greenbury eighth and just 0.6 seconds from pole.

Friday offered a double dose of first-time pole position winners with Andrew Georgiadis grabbing the top spot in Pro-Am and qualifying 10th outright in his Team DNA entry.

They Sydneysiders best lap of 53.6017s was just 1.6s away from Osborne’s outright pole time and saw him take the class pole by 0.3 seconds over Eric Constantinidis, Jonathan Glicksten and John Papantoniou completing the Pro-Am order.

The Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia field charges into racing tomorrow with a pair of races to highlight the Saturday schedule at the Ned Whiskey Tasmania SuperSprint.

Race 1 commences at 10:30am AEST while race 2 – the Jim Richards Enduro race – commences at 2:40pm local time and runs for 45 minutes.

Both races will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 506 and Kayo Sports in Australia, and Sky Sports in New Zealand.