Track Cycling World Championships 2012: Britain produce third fastest ever team pursuit qualification ride The Great Britain quarter of Ed Clancy, Peter Kennaugh, Andy Tennant and Geraint Thomas appeared to barely break sweat as they swept majestically around the Hisense Velodrome in Melbourne in 3 minutes 54.485 seconds which also constituted the fastest qualifying ride in the sport's history. The gauntlet having been thrown down, the Australians roared out of the blocks five minutes later and possibly overcooked it early on, leading Britain by over one second at the halfway stage but the Aussies began to slow noticeably in the final 2km to finish in 3mins 54.654sces, still an exceptionally quick time. The Australian quartet - Glenn O'Shea, Jack Bobridge, Rohan Dennis and Michael Hepburn - might have been saving themselves for tonight's final or, for the first time in a long while, Great Britain might have forced a crack in a young Australian team with an average of just 21. After the defeat in London, Great Britain were heartened rather than discouraged because although well beaten they made a couple of schoolboy errors during the race and during the interim the British coaching think tank have come up with a couple of radical changes to hit back at the Australians. Lead man Clancy is being asked to do a more controlled lap and three-quarters with his opening turn rather than a lap and a quarter while Kennaugh has been moved up to 'man two' from 'man three'. Meanwhile a rejuvenated Tennant, who didn't make the cut for the World Cup squad, has been drafted in at 'man three' while Thomas is beginning to properly get his track legs back at man four. The overall effect, as long as Britain can control their start, is to strengthen the back end of their race. With just three hours between the qualifying ride and the final both teams now face the dilemma of whether to stick with the same line-ups or to bring in a fresh pair of legs - Britain's fifth man is Steven Burke on call while Australia could call on Alex Edmondson. Cycling special report: the inside track on Great Britain's team pursuit squad • Meet the GB squad: exclusive pictures • Team GB's main rivals