David Wall has continued at the front of the Porsche Wilson Security Carrera Cup Australia series in Darwin with record setting pace.

After topping both Friday practice sessions, Wall exchanged top times with many of the Carrera Cup front-runners, though eventually came out with a new lap record and the best lap of the qualifying session.

Nick McBride will start alongside Wall on the front row ahead of second row starters James Moffat and Cameron Hill in his best qualifying performance of the season. Dylan O’Keeffe will start in fifth alongside 2017 Darwin round winner Jaxon Evans.

The battle of the TAG Heuer Pro-Am was just as entertaining as the fight for outright pole position. All eyes were on Anthony Gilbertson, who had recorded the best first sector of any driver late in the session until he crashed into the tyre barrier in the second sector to cause a session-ending red flag.

This left Stephen Grove to claim the class pole position and an impressive ninth outright, just over half a second from Wall’s pole lap. Roger Lago qualified second in class from Adrian Flack and Gilbertson.

At the conclusion of the 21-minute qualifying session, the top 15 cars were covered by less than one second.

Race one will be held at 3:05pm on Saturday.

Results: Qualifying times