Triple Eight’s Declan Fraser has taken pole position for Race 2 for the Dunlop Super2 Series at the NTI Townsville 500, by a 0.0122s margin over Tickford Racing’s Zak Best.
Just 0.1701s covered the top four, with Race 1 winner Tyler Everingham (#27 MW Motorsport Nissan Altima) qualifying third and series leader Matt Payne (#10 Grove Racing Nissan Altima) also getting onto the second row.
The Triple Eight Race Engineering duo started their session on new tyres, with Cameron Hill’s (#111 VF Commodore) 1:14.5264s edging Fraser (#777 VF Commodore) by 0.1563s on their first flyers, before Fraser improved to a 1:14.5129s next time through.
Matt Chahda (#18 Matt Chahda Motorsport FGX Falcon) split them with a 1:14.4847s, then Fraser went even quicker when he clocked a 1:14.1163s on his third flyer.
He would pit just after that, but faced a nervous wait as the other big guns switched to their green tyre set for their second runs.
Payne went second on a 1:14.2864s and Everingham third on a 1:14.3516s in the final town minutes, before Best moved onto the front row when he drove the #78 FGX Falcon to a 1:14.1285s just before the chequered flag.
There was still potential for pole position to change on the final laps, with Everingham moving up to third on a 1:14.2528s as Best set the fastest first sector.
However, the Tickford driver was slower than his personal best in Sector 2 and then locked the rears slightly into Turn 11, checking in at the control line with a 1:14.2778s.
He thus remained second while Chahda ended up fifth and Hill sixth.
Row 4 will be all-Image Racing with Jay Hanson (#49 VF Commodore) seventh and Jaylyn Robotham (#999 VF Commodore) eighth, and the top 10 rounded out by Thomas Maxwell (#3 MW Motorsport Nissan Altima) and Aaron Seton (#30 Matt Stone Racing VF Commodore).
In the Super3 segment of qualifying, Kai Allen was quickest with a 1:14.9605s which got the #26 Eggleston Motorsport VE Commodore into 13th on the grid outright.
His title rivals Brad Vaughan (#5 Anderson Motorsport FG Falcon) and Blake Fardell (#77 Mr HDT VE Commodore) took second and third respectively in class, which became 18th and 19th outright.
The #68 AU Falcon looks to be out for the balance of the weekend after Shane Beikoff lost control as he warmed tyres on his out lap and slid into the barriers on the exit of Turn 3.
Race 2 of Round 3, a 21-lap affair, is scheduled to start at 13:25 local time/AEST.
Results: Qualifying for Race 2
| Pos | Num | Team/Sponsor | Driver | Car | Cls | Fastest lap | Split |
| 1 | 777 | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Declan Fraser | Holden Commodore VF | S2 | 1:14.1163 | |
| 2 | 78 | Best Leisure Industries | Zak Best | Ford Falcon FG/X | S2 | 1:14.1285 | 0:00.0122 |
| 3 | 27 | MWM | Tyler Everingham | Nissan Altima | S2 | 1:14.2528 | 0:00.1365 |
| 4 | 10 | Grove Racing | Matthew Payne | Nissan Altima | S2 | 1:14.2864 | 0:00.1701 |
| 5 | 18 | Brad Cattlin and Sons Civil | Matthew Chahda | Ford Falcon FG/X | S2 | 1:14.4847 | 0:00.3684 |
| 6 | 111 | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Cameron Hill | Holden Commodore VF | S2 | 1:14.5264 | 0:00.4101 |
| 7 | 49 | Image Racing / AWC | Jay Hanson | Holden Commodore VF | S2 | 1:14.5362 | 0:00.4199 |
| 8 | 999 | Shred X / Image Racing | Jaylyn Robotham | Holden Commodore VF | S2 | 1:14.5400 | 0:00.4237 |
| 9 | 3 | MWM | Thomas Maxwell | Nissan Altima | S2 | 1:14.5778 | 0:00.4615 |
| 10 | 30 | Sherrin Rentals | Aaron Seton | Holden Commodore VF | S2 | 1:14.5881 | 0:00.4718 |
| 11 | 54 | Eggleston Motorsport | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore VF | S2 | 1:14.6002 | 0:00.4839 |
| 12 | 38 | Eggleston Motorsport | Cameron Crick | Holden Commodore VF | S2 | 1:14.8561 | 0:00.7398 |
| 13 | 26 | Eggleston Motorsport | Kai Allen | Holden Commodore VE | CH | 1:14.9605 | 0:00.8442 |
| 14 | 11 | Brema Group Racing | Zane Morse | Holden Commodore VF | S2 | 1:14.9945 | 0:00.8782 |
| 15 | 6 | MWM | Angelo Mouzouris | Nissan Altima | S2 | 1:15.0910 | 0:00.9747 |
| 16 | 67 | Flash Bush Motorsports | Nash Morris | Ford Falcon FG/X | S2 | 1:15.1343 | 0:01.0180 |
| 17 | 58 | EFS 4×4 Accessories | Ryal Harris | Holden Commodore VF | S2 | 1:15.1609 | 0:01.0446 |
| 18 | 5 | Anderson Motorsport | Brad Vaughan | Ford Falcon FG | CH | 1:15.7466 | 0:01.6303 |
| 19 | 77 | Mr HDT Race Cars | Blake Fardell | Holden Commodore VE2 | CH | 1:15.7967 | 0:01.6804 |
| 20 | 8 | Steeline Racing | Elly Morrow | Holden Commodore VF | S2 | 1:16.4573 | 0:02.3410 |
| 21 | 7 | Mocomm Motorsport Comms | Jim Pollicina | Holden Commodore VE | SC3 | 1:17.2294 | 0:03.1131 |
| 22 | 35 | Unit Racing | Jason Gomersall | Ford Falcon FG | SC3 | 1:17.2396 | 0:03.1233 |
| 23 | 39 | Vectra Corp | Chris Smerdon | Ford Falcon FG | SC3 | 1:17.7801 | 0:03.6638 |
| 24 | 23 | RHM / Nulon | Ray Hislop | Ford Falcon FG | SC3 | 1:17.8572 | 0:03.7409 |
| 25 | 2 | Page Bros Jayco | Steven Page | Holden Commodore VE2 | SC3 | 1:17.8889 | 0:03.7726 |
| 26 | 76 | AC Electirc & Air Conditioning | Garry Hills | Holden Commodore VE2 | SC3 | 1:18.1477 | 0:04.0314 |
| 27 | 46 | Turbo Brisbane | Jarred Danaher | Ford Falcon FG | SC3 | 1:18.5099 | 0:04.3936 |
| 28 | 219 | Masterton Motorsport | James Masterton | Holden Commodore VE | SC3 | 1:18.6489 | 0:04.5326 |
| 29 | 4 | Crusher Parts International | Tony Auddino | Ford Falcon BF | SC3 | 1:19.1099 | 0:04.9936 |
| 30 | 72 | NHP Electrical Engineering | Layton Barker | Holden Commodore VE | SC3 | 1:19.7560 | 0:05.6397 |
Classes: S2 Super2, CH Super3 Championship, SC3 Super3 Cup, HC Super3 Heritage Class
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