McLaughlin pips Lowndes to continue pole streak

Scott McLaughlin continued his impressive qualifying display by claiming a 10th Armor All pole of the season in an eventful session at Queensland Raceway.

The DJR Team Penske driver put a marker down midway through the hit-out which proved just enough to secure pole position.

McLaughlin was looking to improve his 1:08.81s effort but found traffic at Turn 4, forcing him to back off on his final run.

Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport’s Alex Davison appeared to impede the Kiwi which prompted a stewards investigation.

In the end, McLaughlin took pole by only 0.0089s from Craig Lowndes, who produced his best qualifying display of the season.

“When I was driving out of the pits I thought, ‘Well this is a really early call,’ and I thought at a short track they’re going to come back out and they surely did, and I was a bit nervous there coming through the pack,” said McLaughlin.

“I got through the first straight and then the second straight it was just too sketchy to keep pressing on even though they might have got out of the way so a bit annoying, but it is what it is and we still got pole which we’re very lucky for.

“It’s hard to say (what could have been). At the end of the day you’ve just got to push on. I was just thankful to hold on. Lowndesy’s right on my tail and I’ve just got to make sure we stay up front.”

Having struggled for one lap pace this season, Lowndes was particularly pleased with his first top five start of the season.

“It is (a great result) and I think we rolled the car out yesterday, Richo (co-driver Steven Richards) drove the car, it was pretty good in his mind and I think that was a really good indication.

“We did it at Darwin, we just didn’t use that obviously for the qualifying but today we have and it’s great to be on the front row again.

“I don’t know if we’ve completely unlocked (the new-construction tyre) but we’ve definitely unlocked it for here.”

A late effort from Chaz Mostert saw the Prodrive Ford secure a spot on the second row in third alongside Practice 3 pacesetter Tim Slade (Brad Jones Racing).

Mark Winterbottom claimed fifth ahead of the top Nissan entry belonging to Rick Kelly.

A tenth of a second covered the top-five in what was a hotly contested session.

Reigning Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen will start from seventh ahead of Michael Caruso (Nissan Motorsport), Jamie Whincup (Red Bull Holden) and Cameron Waters (Prodrive Ford), who rounded out the top 10.

Whincup however is the subject of a post-session investigation along with Garry Rogers Motorsport’s James Moffat for a possible pit lane infringement.

Meanwhile, title contender Fabian Coulthard was unable to match his DJR Team Penske team-mate with the New Zealander down in 14th spot, 0.3s shy of McLaughlin.

Coulthard was on a strong lap during his final run before backing off.

Scott Pye was fastest of the Mobil 1 HSV Racing Holdens in 16th position.

Todd Hazelwood emerged as the top wildcard runner in 20th position ahead of full-timers Lee Holdsworth, Tim Blanchard, Todd Kelly, Simona de Silvestro, James Moffat, and Alex Rullo.

Race 15 is scheduled to start at 1615 local time.

Results: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship: Coates Hire Ipswich Super Sprint: ARMOR ALL Qualifying for Race 15