FIRST FOCUS Radical Cup Australia co-leader Peter Paddon has crossed the country and beaten the West Aussie’s at their own game - grabbing pole position for Round 2 of the series at carco.com.au Raceway at Wanneroo.
Paddon’s 55.7192s flyer saw the First Focus / GWR Australia top a tight 30-minute qualifying session to score his first Radical pole in the current era of RCA competition.
Prior to today Paddon had qualified on the front row on four prior occasions without having scored an outright pole.
His pole position didn’t come by much, however, co-series leader Cooper Cutts saving his best ‘til last and only just failing to beat Paddon right at the end of the session.
Cutts’ 55.8141s best was just 0.09 seconds behind Paddon setting up another intense battle between the pair tomorrow in race one – the 45-minute enduro.
The returning Elliott Schutte was third while 2022 Wanneroo winner Bryce Moore was fourth in the car he will share with Chris Reindler.
West Aussie Mark Cirillo was a strong fifth in his #5 Arise Racing entry he shares with Cade Bell, the top five covered by just three-tenths.
Josh Hunt was a late improver, climbing to sixth aboard his Volante Rosso Motorsport-prepared entry he splits with Peter Clare late in the session, with Ash Samadi next.
Bradley Russell was eighth, the #68 Terry Knowles / Barton Mawer entry ninth and Jon Collins rounded out the top-10 positions in qualifying.
Collins is racing on the same track as his mum (Sue Hughes) for the first time in a decade – the pair having last competed head-to-head in Formula Fords in Sydney. Hughes ended the session in 21st position.
The top 10 cars were covered by exactly one second in one of the tightest packed Radical grids yet.
The session was run with a single red flag interruption, teenager Zara Horn spinning on the exit of turn seven half-way through, her car stalling while attempting to recover.
She was quickly returned to pit lane and ultimately ended the session 13th.
Among other notables, Melinda Price and Greg Kenny qualified 16th while former Australian Formula 2 Champion Arthur Abrahams was 19th having swapped cars between practice and qualifying due to an unrepairable mechanical issue on his original ride.
22 cars qualified for Round 2 of the series this weekend, a record grid for one-make Radical Competition in Australia since the series’ return at the beginning of the 2022 season.
The Radical field gathers for the enduro race tomorrow at the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint, to be broadcast live from 10:00am local time on Fox Sports 506 and Kayo Sports.
