McLaughlin takes second Phillip Island pole

Scott McLaughlin continued Volvo’s impressive form at Phillip Island with a second Armor All Pole Award in as many days.

The 22-year-old was fourth heading into the final green tyre runs, where he put down a 1:30.70s to shoot to the top a little over 30 seconds from the chequered flag.

McLaughlin’s time proved 0.07s clear of Jamie Whincup, who had bumped previous fast man Mark Winterbottom from the pole just seconds earlier.

“I stuffed up the first set of tyres so I knew I had to dig deep,” said McLaughlin.

“I didn’t think that time would be enough but it was so we’ll take it.”

Whincup’s second place came after recovering from a dramatic moment at Turn 2 early in the session that saw the Red Bull Holden spin into the gravel trap.

“It was a bit of a wild ride, my foot slipped off the pedal so it was a weird one,” he said.

“But we regathered, got all the stones out of the car and went as quick as we could.”

Winterbottom fell to third in the dying stages as he failed to improve on his final set.

“The first lap I did was good and we came in and made some subtle changes,” said Winterbottom.

“I didn’t get my tyre sequence right during the warm-up and I came into Turn 1 and 2 and had a lot of push and then I caught Will Davison late in the lap.

“With a bit smarter brain I would have done it a bit different.”

Fabian Coulthard will start fourth for DJR Team Penske, five spots higher than he managed in Saturday’s session.

James Moffat continued his improvement in the second Volvo with fifth ahead of Shane van Gisbergen, Scott Pye, Rick Kelly, Craig Lowndes and Michael Caruso.

Like Whincup, Caruso’s session also included an early off at Turn 2.

Saturday front-row starter Chaz Mostert struggled on his way to 14th, while the Holden Racing Team’s lacklustre weekend continued with James Courtney and Garth Tander 13th and 20th respectively.

The 200km Race 7 will take place from 1410 local time.

Tyres remain a key unknown heading into the race after investigations into the two failures seen on Saturday proved inconclusive.

Result: V8 Supercars WD-40 Phillip Island Super Sprint Race 7 Qualifying