Morgan's 4.77 holds top spot.
ANDRA Pro Series Top Fuel champion Darren Morgan has qualified in top position for the third round of the season in Perth.
Victorian Morgan used a final session 4.74sec on top of an earlier 4.77sec to clinch the number one spot in the AEG Powertools dragster.
Preceding the 4.74sec run, Morgan had said the team, along with crew chief Ben Patterson, were going to explore where the boundaries were in the hot conditions.
With 42 degrees Celsius expected for today’s eliminations, Morgan said that would be a difficult hurdle for the teams. Fortunately he will have a bye run in round one to get data on the track.
“Tomorrow is going to be a whole new ball game; (the heat in the track) is a bit of a scary issue,” he said.
The Top Fuel field was super close, with Victoria’s Phil Lamattina following on with a second session 4.82sec pass from the Fuchs Lubricants dragster, an improvement from his first session where he spun the tyres – though the pass came with a small fire in the braking area.
“Obviously for the first round we had to get a feel of the track. I think the right lane is a little better than the left,” he said. “Mine started nosing over in the deep end, I think it took the burst panel out and might have cut an oil line. I saw the fire flicker through the cockpit, that was interesting.”
New South Wales’ Andrew Cowin and WA’s Damien Harris followed on with 4.83sec and 4.84sec times respectively, setting up a thrilling first round match up between the championship leaders.
WA driver Mark Sheehan had a frustrating night with a series of shut off runs and gremlins, even managing to find reverse gear in a burnout. He will face Lamattina in the first round.
Eliminations begin from 6pm tonight.
Image courtesy Phil Luyer www.highoctanephotos.com.