Golding scores breakthrough Supercars pole in Darwin

Golding was fastest in Friday afternoon’s qualifying session and edged Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Broc Feeney by 0.0789s when he finished off the one-lap dash at Hidden Valley Raceway.

Feeney’s championship-leading team-mate Will Brown will start sixth, alongside the first of the Ford drivers in Dick Johnson Racing’s Anton De Pasquale.

The heat of the day left the track slippery for the shootout.

Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) had provisionally qualified fourth and moved almost a quarter of a second (0.2412s) clear of the six drivers who had gone before him when he laid down a 1:06.3091s despite kicking up the dirt exiting Turn 1.

Team 18’s Mark Winterbottom (#18 DeWalt Camaro) followed and slotted into second place on a 1:06.3621s, then Matt Stone Racing’s Nick Percat (#10 Bendix Camaro) took up third on a 1:06.4595s.

That left only Golding to come and he was slightly quicker than Feeney to the first sector, slower by an even slimmer margin to the second, then set the quickest third sector of all for a 1:06.2302s all-told in the #31 Nulon Camaro.

De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang) clocked a 1:06.5503s despite running slightly wide at Turn 1 and then sliding on the edge of the track as he exited Turn 14.

That stood up for fifth-fastest in the end with Brown (#87 Red Bull Ampol Camaro), who was next onto the track, also wide at Turn 1 before checking in at a time of 1:06.6033s.

Team 18’s David Reynolds (#20 Tradie Beer Camaro) ended up seventh on 1:06.6529s, from Tickford Racing’s Cam Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang) on a 1:06.6777s, PremiAir’s Tim Slade (#23 Nulon Camaro) on a 1:06.6779s, and Brad Jones Racing’s Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries Camaro) on a 1:06.7674s.

Race 11, to be run over 48 laps/137km, is officially set to start at 15:10 local time/15:40 AEST.

Results: Top 10 Shootout for Race 11, Betr Darwin Triple Crown