McLaughlin pips Mostert to pole for Race 20 at QR

Scott McLaughlin has qualified on Armor All Pole Position for Race 20 at the Century Batteries Ipswich SuperSprint by a margin of a tenth of a second over Chaz Mostert.

McLaughlin set a 1:08.5133s in the #17 Shell V-Power Mustang at the end of the three-part knockout session, while Mostert elevated himself to second with a 1:08.6195s in the #55 Supercheap Auto Mustang.

The Red Bull Holden Racing Team cars fill the second row, while DJR Team Penske’s Fabian Coulthard was the biggest name to miss the top 10.

McLaughlin just denied Jamie Whincup the honour of the fastest lap in Part 2 when he set a 1:08.6081s, and rolled out with a 1:08.5474s at the start of the final 10-minute stanza.

The championship leader could not match his record pace in Practice 4 earlier in the day, but nor could anyone else as McLaughlin took a 13th pole of the campaign.

“I’m so grateful for where we’re at and the pace that we had; always want to do the perfect lap and just missed that last sector,” said McLaughlin.

“Overall, really strong first two sectors. We’ll go into the race, I think it feels like we’ve got a better car, but who knows? We’ll see what goes on.”

Mostert was fifth after the first runs in Part 3 before finding almost four tenths of a second on his second run.

Whincup ended up almost a quarter of a second off the pace in the #88 ZB Commodore, while Shane van Gisbergen (#97 ZB Commodore) was 0.2964s away from McLaughlin with only one run at the final part of qualifying to earn fourth on the grid.

Will Davison barely got out of Part 2 before setting a 1:08.9400s on his second flying lap at the start of Part 3.

The Milwaukee Racing driver was one of six to only have one run in the final segment due to a shortage of tyres but finished fifth despite putting his cue in the rack early.

Cameron Waters (Monster Energy Mustang) was sixth in Car #6, Andre Heimgartner (Plus Fitness Altima) seventh in Car #7, and Nick Percat (Hare & Forbes ZB Commodore) eight in Car #8.

Percat, Todd Hazelwood (#35 Matt Stone Racing ZB Commodore), and David Reynolds (#9 Penrite ZB Commodore) all started in Part 1, with the latter two ending up ninth and 10th respectively.

Coulthard was knocked out of the top 10 when Davison lifted himself from 13th to 10th well after the chequered flag in Part 2 of qualifying.

Davison went 0.0246s faster than Coulthard to consign the #12 Mustang to a starting berth of 11th, alongside Lee Holdsworth (#5 The Bottle-O Mustang), while Anton De Pasquale (#99 Erebus ZB Commodore) and Rick Kelly (#15 Castrol Altima) will share Row 7.

There was an early end to Part 1 of the session when Macauley Jones spun at the exit of Turn 1 and couldn’t restart his #21 CoolDrive ZB Commodore.

The red flag deprived most of a chance to improve on a second run, including Jones’ Brad Jones Racing team-mate Tim Slade, who was personal best to the second sector in the #14 Freightliner ZB Commodore.

As such, James Golding (#34 Boost Mobile ZB Commodore) was locked into 15th, Scott Pye (#2 Mobil 1 Mega ZB Commodore) will start from 16th, while Mark Winterbottom (#18 Irwin Tools ZB Commodore) and James Courtney (#22 Mobil 1 Mega ZB Commodore) share the ninth row.

Slade is set to line up 20th and Jones 24th.

Race 20 of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, scheduled for 65 laps/200km, is set to start at 1410 local time/AEST at Queensland Raceway.

Results: Armor All Qualifying for Race 20