McLaughlin tops Sunday Clipsal 500 qualifying

Scott McLaughlin will be the last out in the Top 10 Shootout after topping a Sunday Clipsal 500 qualifying session of mixed fortunes for Volvo.

McLaughlin jumped from 23rd to first after the chequered flag fell on the 20 minute run, recording a 1:20.41s lap to edge previous fast man Chaz Mostert by 0.06s.

The session was punctuated by a lengthy red flag at halfway, triggered to clean up power steering fluid left from James Moffat’s Volvo at the final corner.

Moffat spun on his own fluid as smoke belched from the S60 in a return of the steering issues the squad endured last year.

After a nine minute delay, qualifying resumed with drivers having to adjust their lines into the corner in order to avoid the mess.

A 1:20.7s from Mostert was the fastest time before the stoppage and lasted until Jamie Whincup cut 0.13s from the benchmark with 90 seconds remaining.

Shane van Gisbergen went second in the final seconds, only for Mostert and eventually McLaughlin to pop into P1 after the chequered flag.

“I didn’t make it easy for myself at all,” said McLaughlin of his session.

“I was just glad to be in the 10 but to be fastest is awesome.

“It was hard with those conditions at the last corner.

“I thought you had to be a bit narrower than you really did, so I’ve got a bit of time to find there.”

Mostert, Whincup and Van Gisbergen held onto second through fourth, while Fabian Coulthard, Rick Kelly, Scott Pye, Mark Winterbottom, James Courtney and Cameron Waters complete the Top 10 Shootout field.

Courtney suffered a scare during the red flag delay when heat shielding in the engine bay of his Holden briefly caught fire as the car sat in the pitlane.

McLaughlin’s late heroics bumped Michael Caruso from the Shootout, while the highest profile spectator for the Top 10 run-off will be Craig Lowndes, who is set to start down in 17th.

Result: V8 Supercars Clipsal 500 Qualifying 3