Yasser Shahin and Matt Campbell have ensured the EMA Motorsport / The Bend Motorsport Park Porsche will start from pole for the first two Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS races in Adelaide.
Shahin, who entered the weekend third in the championship 22 points behind leader Liam Talbot, is perfectly placed to crush the gap to the Audis of Talbot and second-placed Geoff Emery in the first two races of the championship-deciding weekend.
The eighteen car field ventured out on to the Adelaide Parklands Circuit under bright sunshine on a damp but drying track, with the Am drivers venturing out on wet tyres for their fifteen minute qualifying session.
Championship leader Liam Talbot quickly established himself as the man to beat as has often been the case this season, with the Shannons Audi the first to dip under a 1m 30s and going over three seconds quicker than the next best car at the halfway point of the session.
However, as the track continued to get drier, lap times continued to tumble as the track continued to get faster with every passing lap, resulting in the final flying lap of the session ultimately deciding pole position.
The driver who set that final lap was championship contender Yasser Shahin, who did his championship hopes the world of good by taking his EMA Motorsport Porsche to a 1m 27.2184s to pip Talbot by just over a tenth of a second, aided by a slick tyre gamble.
Fellow championship contender Geoff Emery qualified fourth in his Jamec Racing Audi just over a second behind the Shahin Porsche,
Shahin, Talbot, and Emery handed their respective cars over to international stars Matt Campbell, Christopher Mies, and Max Hofer for Qualifying Two as the Pro drivers ventured out for their fifteen minute session.
Qualifying Two got off to a false start as Marc Cini would beach his Hallmarc Audi in the gravel at turn five on his out lap, whilst John Goodacre would also have a separate issue in his Gap Solutions / Ult100 Oils MARC GT.
The green flag would fly once again with just under six minutes left in the session, allowing for just four push laps as the tyres would come up to optimal temperature.
All three of the international stars would have at least one lap affected by traffic in a frantic conclusion to Qualifying Two, however the 2019 Bathurst 12 Hour winner would get the job done with a 1m 20.7447s.
There were two surprise names in behind Campbell, with Paul Stokell putting in an impressive performance to put the KFC Audi on the front row and topping the Am class, whilst Jayden Ojeda would qualify third in the Harrold's Racing / Volante Rosso Motorsport Mercedes.
With Mies (Jamec Racing) and Hofer (Shannons) only managing fourth and fifth respectively in their Audis, tomorrow's second race is shaping as a pivotal moment in the championship battle between Talbot, Emery, and Shahin.
Am class pole in Qualifying One went to the Audi of Brad Schumacher, who qualified ahead of Emery in an impressive third outright for Schumacher Motorsport.
GT3 Trophy qualifying was swept by the Sonic Motor Racing Services Porsche of Marcos Flack, who will start in ninth outright in both Race One and Race Two.
The Invitational poles went to Geoff Taunton in Qualifying One (fourteenth outright) for MRA Roofing and Construction, whilst pole in Qualifying Two went to Adam Hargraves of T2 Racing in tenth outright.
Race One for Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS begins at 1:25pm local time.
The race will be broadcast live via Fox Sports 506.