Gold Coast 600: Huge crash for McLaughlin in qualifying

Scott McLaughlin suffered a spectacular crash during qualifying for Sunday’s Supercars race on the Gold Coast.

The Penske Ford driver was on his final run when he clipped an inside wall at the first chicane, which fired him to the outside and tipped his Mustang on its side.

He was able to climb from the car under his own steam, and is currently being assessed by medical staff.

However he won’t take any further part in today’s action, which means he’ll have to wait until at least Sandown to wrap up the 2019 title.

“It’s a pretty bad incident, but fortunately Scotty is alright so he could jump out of the car, that’s the main thing,” said co-driver Alex Premat.

“It’s bad ending the day like this, but it’s motor racing. He did the best at what he could do, we didn’t see what happened because we didn’t have so much onboard.

“It’s very unfortunate, but all that matters is Scotty is out of the car.

“We need to see when the car is back here what we can do, how bad it is, but the whole team will be making sure everything is back together, either today or at Sandown.”

McLaughlin actually finished the session fastest, but was demoted to second after losing his fastest time for causing a red flag.

That elevated Shane van Gisbergen, who rushed to McLaughlin’s aid after the crash, to top spot, the Red Bull Holden driver set to run last in the Top 10 Shootout later this morning.

Jamie Whincup, Scott Pye, Cam Waters, Will Davison, Lee Holdsworth, James Courtney, David Reynolds and Anton De Pasquale are all guaranteed a spot in the single-lap dash for pole.

Qualifying results:

ClaDriverCarTimeGap
1 Shane van Gisbergen
Garth Tander
Holden Commodore ZB 01’10.328  
2 Scott McLaughlin
Alexandre Prémat
Ford Mustang GT 01’10.367 00.038
3 Jamie Whincup
Craig Lowndes
Holden Commodore ZB 01’10.407 00.078
4 Scott Pye
Warren Luff
Holden Commodore ZB 01’10.517 00.188
5 Cameron Waters
Michael Caruso
Ford Mustang GT 01’10.518 00.190
6 Will Davison
Alex Davison
Ford Mustang GT 01’10.557 00.229
7 Lee Holdsworth
Thomas Randle
Ford Mustang GT 01’10.569 00.241
8 James Courtney
Jack Perkins
Holden Commodore ZB 01’10.600 00.272
9 David Reynolds
Luke Youlden
Holden Commodore ZB 01’10.616 00.287
10 Anton De Pasquale
Will Brown
Holden Commodore ZB 01’10.743 00.415
11 Tim Slade
Ash Walsh
Holden Commodore ZB 01’10.806 00.478
12 Mark Winterbottom
Steven Richards
Holden Commodore ZB 01’10.812 00.483
13 Rick Kelly
Dale Wood
Nissan Altima 01’10.826 00.498
14 Todd Hazelwood
Jack Smith
Holden Commodore ZB 01’10.836 00.508
15 Andre Heimgartner
Bryce Fullwood
Nissan Altima 01’10.891 00.563
16 Fabian Coulthard
Tony D’Alberto
Ford Mustang GT 01’10.986 00.658
17 Nick Percat
Tim Blanchard
Holden Commodore ZB 01’11.153 00.824
18Brodie Kostecki
Jake Kostecki
Holden Commodore ZB 01’11.244 00.915
19 Garry Jacobson
Dean Fiore
Nissan Altima 01’11.387 01.058
20 James Golding
Richard Muscat
Holden Commodore ZB 01’11.459 01.131
21 Macauley Jones
Dean Canto
Holden Commodore ZB 01’11.481 01.152
22 Jack Le Brocq
Jonathon Webb
Holden Commodore ZB 01’11.652 01.323
23 Simona de Silvestro
Alex Rullo
Nissan Altima 01’12.055 01.726
24 Richie Stanaway
Chris Pither
Holden Commodore ZB 01’13.447 03.119

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