Scott McLaughlin will start the first Supercars race at Queensland Raceway from pole after topping qualifying for a ninth time this season.
The Penske driver was quickest through both phases of qualifying, going top on his first proper run with a 1m08.814s on the seven-minute mark as times dropped under the 1m09s mark for the first time all weekend.
He then backed that up with a stunning effort on his final run, forced to dig deep by improvements from Fabian Coulthard and David Reynolds but coming up with the goods thanks to a 1m08.501s.
“That one felt really good,” said McLaughlin. “We weren’t amazing in practice, but we were there. We just made a massive leap forward then, the car was fantastic.
“It was all about doing the right lap there and trying to execute it as best as I could. I felt like that was all that was left in it. It felt like one of my best laps of the year, it was just solid.”
Chaz Mostert put in an impressive final run of his own to put the out-of-form Tickford outfit on the front row thanks to a 1m08.671s. However, he is under investigation for potentially having impeded Shane van Gisbergen at the final turn on the first run.
“I didn’t really see his headlights, but I thought I’d still stay quite wide and out of the way,” said Mostert.
“Its one of things, Gizzy is always line-ball with those kind of things as well. Can’t do much about it. If he brakes any later than that he’s probably off the track.
“It wasn’t intentional to bugger him over, I don’t like to do that. Fingers crossed we can hold on to that position.”
Coulthard ended up third after being bumped off the front row by Mostert’s late lap, with David Reynolds grabbing the outside of the second row.
Rick Kelly was the best Nissan in fifth, while Jamie Whincup could manage just sixth as the best-placed Triple Eight car.
The fourth row is Nissan-Triple Eight as well, Michael Caruso going seventh quickest with van Gisbergen eighth, although left ruing the run-in with Mostert.
“I guess he didn’t see or the team didn’t tell him,” said the Kiwi. “It didn’t look intentional but we were a bit out of phase. I’m sure he didn’t mean it. Anyway, we were quite good enough. But yeah, hopefully some clear laps would have helped too. It definitely hurt us.”
Nick Percat was the lone Brad Jones Racing entry in the Top 10 in ninth, one spot ahead of Craig Lowndes.
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