ParcFerme.Com

On a day of changeable weather conditions, CAMS Rising Star Joshua Scott claimed pole position for round six of the Australian Formula Ford Championship at Sandown Raceway today.

The result is the perfect start to the weekend for Scott, who will fly to England on Monday morning with team-mate Ash Walsh for a six-week international program culminating in the prestigious British Formula Ford festival.

"After it was wet in practice it dried out for qualifying, and when we got out there we were on it straight away," Scott said.

"Even without any dry running this morning, the car was great, it was on rails - we had good grip, the handling was good and we had excellent power-down.

"We haven't had the best run in qualifying this year, but with second at Queensland Raceway and now pole position here, hopefully that's behind us."

In a tight field, current championship leader Tim Blanchard was just 0.1144 seconds behind Scott and will start the opening race of his home round from second place.

"It's good to be back on the front row and in contention for a good race result tomorrow after having a couple of tough rounds," Blanchard said.

"We had great pace here last year, I'm hoping for a good, clean run tomorrow morning."

Currently second in the championship behind Blanchard, Walsh was a scant two one-hundredths of a second further back.

He'll start from third place in his quest to claim seven consecutive race wins.

Contesting just his second championship round of the season, Adam Graham was a strong fourth-fastest, setting the time in the dying minutes of the session after a late red flag period.

"I'm happy with how it went," Graham enthused.

"I thought it would take a bit longer to get back in the groove, especially after the wet session this morning, so to be fourth is very satisfying."

The round started with a wet practice session this morning, with Kristian Lindbom ending up on top, ahead of locals Blanchard and Taz Douglas.

Lindbom was fifth-fastest in qualifying and will share the third row of the grid with Douglas.

"I won a Victorian state series round in the wet here last year, and I was really comfortable out there in practice," Lindbom said.

"In qualifying, I was on the same pace as Josh and Ash for most of the lap, I was just losing a bit of time at Dandenong Road, I know that if we work on that overnight we should be in good shape."

James Moffat, Nick Percat, Brad Lowe and Queensland Raceway pole-sitter Glen Wood complete the top 10.

Bouncing back after an early off-track excursion limited his practice running to a single lap, Michael Pereira will start his first Australian Formula Ford Championship race from 14th place.

Fellow debutant Chris Reindler was 19th, after also enduring a troubled practice session.

The opening two 12-lap races will take place tomorrow, Saturday, at 10:05am and 4:35pm, before race three which will be broadcast live on Sunday as part of Channel 7's Sandown 500 coverage.

Sandown Qualifying Top Six

1.         Joshua Scott                 1:16.0977

2.         Tim Blanchard               + 0.1144 sec

3.         Ash Walsh                    + 0.1613 sec

4.         Adam Graham               + 0.2114 sec

5.         Kristian Lindbom           + 0.2573 sec

6.         Taz Douglas                  + 0.3255 sec

Sandown Practice Top Six

1.         Kristian Lindbom            1:34.5141

2.         Tim Blanchard                + 0.3567 sec

3.         Taz Douglas                   + 0.7529 sec

4.         Brad Lowe                     + 1.0994 sec

5.         James Moffat                 + 1.4693 sec

6.         Glen Wood                    + 1.5203 sec

Current Championship Points Standings

1.         Tim Blanchard                232 points

2.         Ash Walsh                     199

3.         James Moffat                 196

4.         Kristian Lindbom            158

5.         Josh Scott                     128

6.         Glen Wood                    113

Sandown Raceway Schedule

Saturday 15 September

Race One                     10:05am, 12 laps

Race Two                     4:35pm, 12 Laps

Sunday 16 September

Race Three                   12:05pm, 12 Laps