Kostecki on provisional pole as DJR misses Top 10 Shootout

Erebus Motorsport’s Brodie Kostecki has continued to set the pace in qualifying at the Thrifty Newcastle 500 while both Dick Johnson Racing Mustangs missed the Top 10 Shootout.

Kostecki is on provisional pole position after going as fast as a 1:11.3217s in Qualifying for Race 1 of the Repco Supercars Championship, with Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert, both Triple Eight Race Engineering entries, and Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters among those to finish the 20-minute session in the top 10.

Will Davison, however, ended up 14th after suffering a clutch problem while DJR team-mate Anton De Pasquale could only manage 17th in the #11 Shell V-Power Mustang.

Kostecki (#99 Coca-Cola Camaro) had been fastest in practice and beat that time by almost another tenth of a second straight away when he set a 1:11.3217s on his first flyer, with Brad Jones Racing’s Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries Camaro) next-best at that point on a 1:11.7057s.

David Reynolds (#26 Penrite Mustang) split them with a 1:11.5730s on his second lap, as Shane van Gisbergen (#97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) rolled out later than everyone else and went third on a 1:11.6065s.

The effort from the 2022 champion pushed Davison back to 16th, but he had bigger problems in the form of a clutch drama in the #17 Shell V-Power Mustang.

Davison went back out for a second run but continued to struggle, as Tim Slade (#400 Nulon Camaro) on a 1:11.4478s and then Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang) on a 1:11.3588s moved to second place.

Ahead of the final runs, the big names outside the top 10 included James Courtney (#5 Snowy River Caravans Mustang) in 11th, his Tickford team-mate Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang) in 13th, De Pasquale in 14th, Davison in 19th, and Nick Percat (#2 Mobil 1 NTI Mustang) in 22nd.

Kostecki ventured back out but would put his cue in the rack with more than a minute remaining, before van Gisbergen improved to third on a 1:11.4358s.

Davison, too, went faster, but his 1:11.7997s was only good enough for 13th, and that was before Waters lifted himself into the top 10 with a 1:11.5818s which bumped Will Brown (#9 Coca-Cola Camaro) to 11th.

That left Feeney vulnerable until he crept up to seventh on a 1:11.6374s, and Golding would have been nervous when Mark Winterbottom (#18 DeWalt Camaro) set the fastest first sector on his final lap.

The Team 18 driver completed a personal-best lap of 1:11.9265s but only moved up one position to 16th, pushing De Pasquale back onto the ninth row of the starting grid at the Newcastle East Street Circuit.

The top 10 was thus Kostecki, Mostert, van Gisbergen, Slade, Reynolds, Waters, Feeney Heimgartner, Scott Pye (#20 Hino Camaro), and Golding.

Locked into 11th onwards are Brown, Courtney, Thomas Randle (#55 Castrol Mustang), Davison, Jack Le Brocq (#34 Truck Assist Camaro), Winterbottom, De Pasquale, Bryce Fullwood (#14 Middy’s Camaro), Cameron Hill (#35 Truck Assist Camaro), and Todd Hazelwood (#3 CoolDrive Mustang) in 20th, with Percat 21st in the 25-car field.

The Top 10 Shootout starts at 12:35 local time/AEDT.

Results: Qualifying for Race 1, Thrifty Newcastle 500