Summarize

South Africa's Kelvin van der Linde put the Valvoline Jamec Pem Audi R8 he will share with Geoff Emery on pole position for the Clipsal 500 - the opening race of the Australian GT Championship in Adelaide Thursday.

Audi Sport driver van der Linde topped the opening qualifying session, which was enough to secure the top starting slot despite Lamborghini driver Roger Lago setting the pace in Qualifying 2. Lago was however not quick enough to remove the factory Audi from the pole thanks to the starting grid being set by the fastest lap for each car across the two 20-minute sessions.

Van der Linde was 0.3s quicker than the similar of Ash Walsh in the first session, with the Audis' early pace good enough for a 1-2-3 grid lockout. Kelvin will race the opening rounds of the Aussie GT series with with Adelaide's first heat being a 40-minute race on  on Friday and the second round being at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, before a full season in Europe.