McLaughlin, van Gisbergen split tight Sunday qualifying sessions

Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen will share the front row for today’s two races at the CoreStaff Darwin SuperSprint after taking a pole each in the Sunday qualifying sessions.

The Shell V-Power Racing Team’s McLaughlin was fastest by 0.0565s with a 1:06.2585s in Qualifying for Race 17, while the latter session was even tighter at the top.

In that hit-out, van Gisbergen’s 1:06.2898s in a Red Bull HRT machine which had a fresh engine installed overnight bettered the championship leader’s effort by 0.0302s.

Team 18’s strong run of form continued with Scott Pye third on the grid for the first race of the day and Mark Winterbottom set to start in that position for the second.

Jamie Whincup qualified on Row 4 for both Races 17 and 18 at Hidden Valley Raceway in the #88 Red Bull HRT ZB Commodore.

Qualifying for Race 17

McLaughlin was only 13th after his first flyer through the opening 10-minute encounter but that mattered little given the session was decided on the second runs, the vast majority of which were single hot laps each.

He and van Gisbergen (#97 Mustang) traded fast sectors before McLaughlin broke the beam at 1:06.2585s in the #17 Mustang and team-mate Fabian Coulthard briefly moved into second at 0.1863s back in the #12 Mustang.

Van Gisbergen, the initial pace-setter, then split them with a 1:06.3150s which stood up for a berth on the outside of the front row for Race 17.

Pye (#20 DeWalt ZB Commodore) finished up third from Cameron Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang), and Winterbottom (#18 Irwin Tools ZB Commodore).

Coulthard ended up sixth, with the top 10 rounded out by Nick Percat, Whincup, Andre Heimgartner (#7 Ned Mustang), and James Courtney (#44 Boost Mobile Mustang).

Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Appliances Online ZB Commodore) was 12th, Anton De Pasquale (#99 ZB Commodore) 13th, and the latter’s Penrite Racing team-mate David Reynolds (#9 ZB Commodore) 17th.

Qualifying for Race 18

The second 10-minute session of the morning commenced with just over half the field on the race track.

Among that bunch, which included neither of the DJR Team Penske nor Triple Eight Race Engineering entries, Percat established a tidy early benchmark of 1:06.3531s from Brad Jones Racing’s #8 R&J Batteries ZB Commodore, 0.1572s faster than Pye at that stage.

McLaughlin’s only flyer was a 1:06.3200s, not quite good enough to stand up for pole when van Gisbergen crossed the control line two cars behind.

“It’s awesome,” said van Gisbergen.

“I really have to thank the guys; they put in a big effort changing the motor last night and then ‘Shippy’ (Grant McPherson, engineer) going through the set-up. Just being simple, really; we just had to go back to basics.

“The car was awesome right from when I left pit lane, we were up the front again, so I just can’t thank the guys enough and it just made me much more comfortable.”

Winterbottom was among the last to finish the session and set a time only 0.0027s slower than McLaughlin’s, while Percat ended up fourth having not ventured out again.

Mostert was the first beyond a tenth off the pace in fifth, from Waters, Whincup, Pye, De Pasquale, and Heimgartner.

Reynolds finished 12th and Coulthard was shuffled back to 16th at 0.4105s away from pole.

Race 17 of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship is scheduled to start at 12:00 local time/12:30 AEST.

Results: Qualifying for Race 17, CoreStaff Darwin SuperSprint

Results: Qualifying for Race 18, CoreStaff Darwin SuperSprint