Ferrari, Porsche on front row at Adelaide

FERRARI and Porsche will share the front row of the starting grid for tomorrow's Grand Touring Challenge motor race on the Adelaide grand prix street circuit.

Mark Noske, driving a Ferrari F360 Modena Challenge, claimed pole position for the 40-minute event with a time of 1 minute 41.50 seconds in a qualifying session tonight.

Adelaide surgeon Greg Keene scored the other front-row spot, 3 sec. behind in a Porsche GT3.

The second row will be shared by Noske's Prancing Horse teammate Rod Wilson, in an identical Ferrari, and veteran Brian Sampson in a Porsche GT3. Sampson will team in the race with his car's owner, Winston Kim.

Australian GT Production Car champion Mark King put in a spectacular qualifying effort, steering his two-litre Mitsubishi turbo sedan into fifth spot ahead of several more powerful and more expensive sports cars.

Tomorrow's race, the first of two legs in the Grand Touring Challenge, will see all 26 starters make a compulsory pit stop for a tyre change. Driver changes will be optional.

Noske, who will drive the full distance on his own, said pole position had proved the speed of his $350,000 Ferrari.

"But we still have to finish the race - you can't afford to make any mistakes here," he added.

<pre> RESULTS (Qualifying - starting order):

Outright 1. Mark Noske (Ferrari F360 Challenge) 1:41.50 2. Greg Keene (Porsche GT3) 1:44.85 3. Rod Wilson (Ferrari F360 Challenge) 1:46.31 4. Winston Kim/Brian Sampson (Porsche GT3) 1:51.09 5. Mark King (Mitsubishi Lancer RS Evo V) 1:51.70 6. Michael Downard (Porsche GT3) 1:52.08 High Performance Class Mark King (Mitsubishi Lancer RS Evo V) 1:51.70 Sports Touring Class Alan Shephard (BMW 323i) 1:59.90

TIMETABLE: Saturday 3.45 pm - Race 1# (40 min.). Sunday 2.20 pm - Race 2# (12 laps).

-Chris Nixon