Steven Richards and Elite Class driver Shane Smollen have claimed the TAG Heuer Pole Position Award for the penultimate Porsche Carrera Cup Australia round at Bathurst.

Richards’ fastest lap was achieved early in the session and eclipsed the former qualifying lap record set by Nick Percat last season, while the morning session was interrupted in the closing minutes by two significant accidents involving Marc Cini and Maurie Pickering.

Cini was lucky to escape significant damage when contacting the outside barrier at The Chase, while Pickering sustained front end damage when crashing at The Esses.

Both cars were repaired and will line up in Friday’s opening race.

Warren Luff recovered from a Thursday practice accident to qualify second after the McElrea Racing team worked into the morning to fix the #7 Porsche.

David Russell and Nick Foster will fill the second row from Sam Power, Craig Baird, Shae Davies, Michael Almond, Michael Patrizi, Nick McBride and Duvashen Padayachee in 11th.

Smollen was the fastest Elite Class competitor and qualified 12th outright from Tony Bates, Ash Samadi, Stephen Grove and James Bergmuller.

Friday’s opening race will be held at 2:25pm, which will be broadcast live on Seven.