Broc Feeney and Jack Le Brocq have shared the pole positions for Sunday’s two Repco Supercars Championship races at the Betr Darwin Triple Crown.
Feeney drove his #88 Red Bull Ampol Racing Camaro to the fastest time in Qualifying for Race 14 at Hidden Valley before Le Brocq achieved his and Matt Stone Racing’s first ever pole position thanks to his exploits in the #34 Truck Assist Camaro in the latter session of the morning.
Brad Jones Racing’s Andre Heimgartner put the #8 R&J Batteries Camaro on the front row for both of today’s 35-lap races, missing the pole positions by a combined total of precisely 0.0200s.
Race 13 winner Mark Winterbottom (#18 DeWalt Camaro) experienced the highs and lows, qualifying 23rd for Race 14 but third for Race 15 at 0.0123s off the pace, with championship leader Brodie Kostecki (#99 Coca-Cola Camaro) fourth and then 11th.
Qualifying for Race 14
Macauley Jones (#96 Pizza Hut Camaro) was quickest after the initial flyers in Qualifying for Race 14 on a 1:06.4078s, while Cameron Waters was eighth in the #6 Monster Energy Mustang which was repaired overnight after its Race 13 fire.
Around the halfway mark of the 15-minute hit-out, Jones was still on top while Kostecki had moved to second on a 1:06.5050s and David Reynolds (#26 Penrite Mustang) was third on a 1:06.6278s.
Scott Pye (#20 Hino Camaro) was among the first to start his final run, climbing to second on a 1:06.4117s which suggested that the track was slower than it had been on the day prior despite the weather being cooler.
Still, there was more time to be had, with Feeney laying down a 1:06.1426s with just over a minute remaining, before Will Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang), Nick Percat (#2 Mobil 1 NTI Mustang), Will Brown (#9 Coca-Cola Camaro), Kostecki, and finally Heimgartner moved into second place, the latter on a 1:06.1524s.
Shane van Gisbergen (#97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) earned third with a 1:06.1566s just prior to the chequered flag and will share Row 2 with Kostecki, then it is Brown, James Golding (#31 Nulon Camaro), Percat, Davison, Bryce Fullwood (#14 Middy’s Camaro), and Todd Hazelwood (#3 CoolDrive Mustang).
Jones ended up 12th and Pye 13th, with other notables outside the top 10 being Le Brocq in 15th, Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang) in 21st, Winterbottom in 23rd, Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang) in 24th, and Waters in 25th.
Full Qualifying results for Race 14 here.
Qualifying for Race 15
The pace was up somewhat at the start of Qualifying for Race 15, Hazelwood not much more than a tenth off the pole time from the preceding session when he set a 1:06.2814s on his first flyer.
Golding was among a handful to roll out around halfway into the session and moved to second on a 1:06.3162s, but was still among only 14 to have set a time ahead of the final runs.
There was then plenty of traffic exiting pit lane inside the final four minutes and, following one of the Tickford Racing Mustangs around the track, Feeney moved into provisional pole on a 1:06.0712s.
Winterbottom then clocked a 1:06.0674s in the final minute before Le Brocq set a 1:06.0551s and Heimgartner moved into second on a 1:06.0653s.
The top five was thus Le Brocq, Heimgartner, Winterbottom, Feeney, and Brown on a 1:06.1356s, with Davison best of the Mustang contingent in sixth on a 1:06.1365s which was 0.0814s away from top spot.
Waters took seventh, from De Pasquale, van Gisbergen, Pye, and Kostecki, with Hazelwood shuffled back to 13th, while Percat, Mostert, and James Courtney (#5 Snowy River Caravans Mustang) are set to bring up the rear of the 26-car grid.
Race 14 of the season starts at 11:50 local time/12:20 AEST.