Scott McLaughlin takes pole while Chaz Mostert ends up in the fence

Supercars Championship leader Scott McLaughlin has taken his 16th pole position of the 2019 season after going quickest in the Top Ten Shootout ahead of this afternoon’s race.

A hard qualifying session for the DJR Team Penske driver saw the #17 Ford Mustang roll out for the shootout with battle scars on both sides though the defending series champion showed the earlier contact hadn’t affected his confidence, posting one of the fastest laps of the weekend.

McLaughlin was confirmed as the pole sitter after provisional pole man Chaz Mostert crashed his Tickford Racing Mustang on the final lap of the session, now having to start tenth if the team can fix the car before today’s race.

James Courtney was the first car on track after provisionally qualifying the Walkinshaw Andretti United car in tenth place. The 2010 series champion was unable to post a time after notching up a kerb strike across the first chicane, having to start the race from the fifth row of the grid.

Erebus Motorsport had their one car in the shootout roll out next with David Reynolds rolling out, looking to back up his 2019 pole position around the street circuit. A tidy lap put him into the 1:10’s, his time of 1:10.9595 setting a marker for the remaining cars to chase.

Kelly Racing’s Andre Heimgartner was the only Nissan in the shootout and nearly wrote himself off at the first chicane, going in too hard and wiping the left hand side of the Altima across the tyre wall. The scrappy first sector was redeemed by a quick middle sector, only just missing out on provisional pole after tagging the outside wall on the exit of the final turn.

Fellow Kiwi Fabian Coulthard lit up the first sector on his lap in the DJR Team Penske Mustang, nearly putting it into the fence at the beachside chicane as he went three tenths up on Reynolds. A more measured end to the lap put the #12 on top, his time of 1:10.7531 good enough to go two-tenths clear of the Erebus machine.

From going fastest in Friday practice, Cam Waters had confidence coming in to the session in his Tickford Racing car and made up fourth-tenths on Coulthard in the middle sector after struggling at the start of the lap. Despite the scrappy start, a 1:10.4147 moved him to provisional pole.

In his 200th Supercars round, Lee Holdsworth hit the track as the sixth car of the shootout and the second of three Tickford entries. The experienced driver didn’t have the ultimate pace of Waters but was able to put himself in the Mustang sandwich between his team-mate and Coulthard.

Jamie Whincup topped the opening practice session of the weekend and came into the day with five pole positions at Surfers Paradise. The Triple Eight driver posted the best first sector so far by nearly two-tenths, helping him to go up to provisional pole with a 1:10.2581 despite losing time around the back side of the circuit.

Championship Scott McLaughlin dragged out his still scarred DJR Team Penske Mustang out after going fast but into the tyre walls on multiple occasions in qualifying. The 2019 pole man and winner of 18 races went faster still than Whincup, nearly ducking down into the 1:09’s with his 1:10.0787 on a more measured lap than earlier in the day.

Shane van Gisbergen was the penultimate driver on track and the Triple Eight driver brought in a wealth of experience after making every Gold Coast shootout since 2011. The 2016 series champion lost time in the middle portion of the lap, unable to recover the time and moving behind Whincup’s time but just ahead of Waters.

From going quickest in qualifying, Chaz Mostert was able to enjoy the benefit of being lap on track in ideal conditions, looking to dismount McLaughlin from pole. The Tickford Racing driver was down in the opening sector and pushed too hard in the closing part of the lap, locking up and going into the Turn 11 fence.

Mostert was committed to his lap but tagged the inside wall, ricocheting the Mustang across the road and into the outside concrete fence. The crash took him out of qualifying and gave Tickford a hard job of repairing the #55 ahead of the afternoon’s race.

McLaughlin will start the afternoon’s 300km race from pole alongside Jamie Whincup at 15:00 local time, kicking off a 102 lap outing around Surfers Paradise.