McLaughlin takes impressive provisional pole in Darwin

Scott McLaughlin has blazed to the fastest lap of the CrownBet Darwin Triple Crown weekend to secure provisional Armor All pole for Race 16 of the Supercars season.

Shane van Gisbergen, however, missed a Top 10 Shootout for the first time since Townsville in 2012 and will start this afternoon’s 200km race from 11th.

The Race 15 winner attempted only two flyers, either side of a long spell in the pits during the 20-minute qualifying session, moving from fourth to first with a 1:05.5538s.

McLaughlin’s time saw star rookie Anton De Pasquale demoted from top spot before James Courtney shot up to second position in the #25 Boost Mobile ZB Commodore.

Courtney, however, was a relatively large 0.2072s slower than the #17 Shell V-Power FGX Falcon.

Second to third was much closer, with De Pasquale’s only flyer in the #99 Erebus Motorsport ZB Commodore just 0.0191s further off the pace.

“It’s always hard, you come off a long race yesterday and big sleep tonight and you’ve got to do it on Lap 1,” said De Pasquale.

“(It) worked out good, we only did the one lap, we saved a couple of sets of tyres and carry a new set over to the Top 10 (Shootout); (we’ll) try and beat the other guys there.

“Our one-lap speed is really fast, our race car was okay yesterday so we’ll try and fix that up for today, but the first mission now is the Top 10 Shootout.

“(It’s my) first one so hopefully I work out how to do it.”

Fabian Coulthard was fourth-fastest but, like Courtney, has reportedly used up all of his new tyre sets on the #12 DJR Team Penske FGX Falcon.

Nick Percat emulated De Pasquale in making the shootout with just one run at qualifying, claiming fifth in the #8 Freightliner ZB Commodore.

Rick Kelly was the first of the Nissans in sixth in the #15 Castrol Altima, while Michael Caruso also made the one-lap dash with ninth position in the #23 Drive Altima.

Splitting them were Jamie Whincup (#1 Red Bull HRT ZB Commodore) and Garth Tander (#33 Wilson Security ZB Commodore).

David Reynolds will be first on-track in the shootout in the #9 Erebus Penrite ZB Commodore.

Van Gisbergen bucked the trend by waiting until the fourth minute to start his session, after which he was 26th on used tyres.

The #97 Triple Eight ZB Commodore sat eighth on the timing screen before the final run but was bumped out of the top 10 by team-mate Whincup’s marginal improvement and the leaps made by Courtney and Caruso.

Chaz Mostert (#55 Supercheap Auto FGX Falcon) was Tickford Racing’s best in 13th, one position ahead of Craig Lowndes (#888 Autobarn ZB Commodore).

Oher notables were Scott Pye (#2 WAU ZB Commodore) in 19th, Mark Winterbottom (#5 The Bottle-O FGX Falcon) in 24th, and wildcard Macauley Jones (#4 DrillPro ZB Commodore) in 25th.

“That’s pretty average,” said Winterbottom.

“First run, brake pedal went to the floor into (Turn) 1, so not very confidence inspiring and that’s probably when the track was at its best as well for us.

“We’re just slow. Trying to make it quicker and unfortunately we’re 24th. It was a clean lap, that’s all the car had. Frustrating session.”

McLaughlin’s lap keeps him in the hunt for the elusive ‘Triple Crown’ and an eighth pole of the season.

The grid for Race 16 of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship will be finalised with the shootout at 1045 local time/1115 AEST.

Results: CrownBet Darwin Triple Crown Supercars Race 16 Armor All Qualifying