McLaughlin charges to eighth pole of the season

Scott McLaughlin once again showcased his qualifying prowess with a stunning performance to claim his eighth Armor All pole of the season at the Watpac Townsville 400.

Lying third after his first run, the DJR Team Penske driver fired in an impressive 1:12.07s effort with a little over five minutes of the session remaining.

McLaughlin’s effort eclipsed Prodrive’s Chaz Mostert by two tenths of a second before electing to climb out of the car with two minutes remaining.

The Kiwi was the only driver absent from the dying moments as the rest of the field looked to make ground with a final run.

“It was Ludo’s (decision to get out of car so early) but I back him 100 percent, I back my team 100 percent,” said McLaughlin.

“That was awesome, the car was fantastic.

“I wish I got the lap together. Honestly I did, but it was a few little ifs, buts, and maybes there, so I need to work on that myself but stoked, we got the pole, and the thing’s good.”

Jamie Whincup was among those to improve as he put his #88 Red Bull Holden into P2, albeit 0.21s shy of McLaughlin.

As a result, Mostert dropped to third in the Supercheap Auto Prodrive Ford, with his team-mate Cameron Waters in fourth.

Shane van Gisbergen was fifth fastest after an early scare when he suffered a big lock up on the run to Turn 11 in the early stages of the session.

Mark Winterbottom managed to improve on his final run to secure sixth in front of Nick Percat (Brad Jones Racing) and David Reynolds, just hours after the confirmation of his new contract at Erebus Motorsport.

Championship leader Fabian Coulthard could only manage ninth in the #12 DJRTP Falcon, while Nissan Motorsport’s Michael Caruso rounded out the top 10.

“It’s much more comfortable for me today than it was yesterday, I can tell you,” said Coulthard, who leads McLaughlin by 10 points in the standings.

“You’re trying to learn a new car in three laps basically. You get three timed laps and three sets of tyres.

“I’m not unhappy with the performance. The boys have done a fantastic job getting the car back up into the 10. We were nowhere near that yesterday.

“It’s all positive and we can move forward from there.”

Mobil 1 HSV Racing’s James Courtney was 16th as Craig Lowndes struggled to 19th position.

“I’d like to be able to blame the traffic for being 16th, but it’s not the traffic. Again in qualifying we’re not getting the most out of it. It’s frustrating,” said Courtney.

“Yesterday we were 10th and happy but made some changes overnight and it wasn’t good.

“We managed to jag one lap there at the end and got a midfield position. We’ve got a bit of work to do.

“Turn 2 and anywhere I can’t use the kerb to turn the car is where we’re really struggling with the fronts. It’s frustrating we need more kerbs.”

Race 13 (200km) is scheduled to begin at 1610 local time.

Results: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship: Watpac Townsville 400: Qualifying Race 13