John Martin moved significantly up the order into eighth position in the Australian entry, before with two minutes to go there was a huge flurry of cars leaving the pit-lane. An opening split quicker than
anyone else in the session for Jani doubtless sent shudders down the spines of his rivals, but the end result was actually slower than the Swiss star had been in Q1, leaving the way clear to Kerr, who did not disappoint.
A whole host of late improvements saw Montagny briefly move up to fifth, Carroll immediately displace the Frenchman to go third and Ammermuller go eighth, but the fireworks came from Kerr, who pipped Jani to the top spot with a supreme final effort to leap to the head of the timesheets. The 28-year-old was almost deposed himself by a stunning last-ditch lap from Summerton, but to the home supporters' relief the Floridian fell a scant two thousandths of a second short, nevertheless pushing Jani down to the second row of the grid.
The Swiss ace was eventually joined there by Carroll, with the impressive Albuquerque, Zaugg, Karthikeyan, Montagny, Ammermuller and Reid completing the top ten, the latter having all-but kissed New Zealand's slim remaining championship hopes a final goodbye.
To see the sprint race qualifying times in full,
click here
