Brodie Kostecki has taken provisional pole position for the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 while Shane van Gisbergen qualified 19th after a late error.
The front row as it stands is an Erebus Motorsport lockout with Kostecki setting a 1:08.4550s and Will Brown a 1:08.5585s, while Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Broc Feeney was third-quickest in the 20-minute Qualifying hit-out for the Repco Supercars Championship field.
Tickford Racing’s Thomas Randle was the first of six Ford drivers to make the Top 10 Shootout in fourth position at 0.2514s off the pace, with Todd Hazelwood taking fifth in the first of the Blanchard Racing Team Mustangs.
Erebus reportedly started both of its cars on green tyres and Kostecki (#99 Coca-Cola Camaro) immediately set a new fastest lap of the weekend, a 1:08.4550s, while Brown (#9 Coca-Cola Camaro) sat second after his first flyer on a 1:08.7494s.
The latter then had an off at Turn 1, possibly in evasion of David Reynolds (#26 Penrite Mustang), before both he and Kostecki pitted immediately.
With most having completed their opening run, it was still Erebus one-two, from Randle (#55 Castrol Mustang) on a 1:08.8252s, although the Red Bull Ampol Camaros had only just rolled out of pit lane for the first time.
Feeney took up second place with a 1:08.7475s in the #88 Camaro, only to be bettered straight away by future team-mate Brown on a 1:08.7394s.
The same occurred next time around, Feeney clocking a 1:08.5833s just before Brown set a 1:08.5585s.
Kostecki had sat out the middle portion of the session while Brown was second-quickest, from Feeney, Randle, Will Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang), Cam Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang), Jack Le Brocq (#34 Truck Assist Camaro), Reynolds, Matt Payne (#19 Penrite Mustang), and Tim Slade (#23 Nulon Camaro), with half a dozen minutes to go.
Hazelwood was the only driver on track when he jumped to fifth with a 1:08.7177s in the #3 CoolDrive Mustang, bumping Slade to 11th.
Others outside the top 10 as the final runs began included Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries Camaro) in 15th, Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang) in 16th, and van Gisbergen (#97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) in 19th.
James Golding (#31 Nulon Camaro) had an off at Turn 1 as he pushed to lift his way into the Shootout, before double drama for van Gisbergen.
He picked up a kerb hop at the esses, already ruining that lap, then ran off at Dandenong Road just seconds later.
The three-time champion got back to the control line in time to start one more lap, but could not improve and either of he or co-driver Richie Stanaway is set to start from Row 10 tomorrow in the #97 Camaro.
Kostecki went out again for a final run and while he did not improve, it mattered not.
Behind Kostecki, Brown, Feeney, Randle, and Hazelwood on the timesheet is Reynolds, who moved up two positions with a 1:08.7345s on his final run.
Davison, Waters, Le Brocq, and Payne survived to get through to this afternoon’s one-lap dash, with Slade first on the outside looking in.
The #23 Camaro which he is sharing with Jonathon Webb will line up on Row 6 with the Cameron Hill/Jaylyn Robotham (#35 Truck Assist Mustang) entry alongside.
Heimgartner/Dale Wood are set to start 15th, with Mostert/Lee Holdsworth 16th, and Anton De Pasquale/Tony D’Alberto (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang) 20th.
The Top 10 Shootout starts at 17:20 local time/AEST.
CLICK HERE for full Qualifying results
Discussion about this post