Chaz Mostert has put himself in the box seat to break a year-long victory drought by scoring the Armor All Pole Award for Race 18 at Sydney Motorsport Park.

The Prodrive ace bettered his own qualifying lap record from 12 months ago by setting a 1:28.83s best during his first of two soft tyre runs in the 15 minute session.

Shane van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup had put Red Bull one-two with their opening run, before Mostert – who completed an initial lap on hard tyres – demoted the duo at the halfway mark.

Scott Pye, James Courtney, Tim Slade, Rick Kelly, Scott McLaughlin and Mark Winterbottom completed a top nine that went unchanged across the final green tyre runs.

Tenth placed Craig Lowndes was one of few to improve on his second set, gaining a single place at the expense of Garth Tander.

“The car was really hooked up on the soft tyres,” smiled Mostert after claiming his fourth pole of the season.

“The track is a bit broken up everywhere but it was fantastic to put a green soft on and put it up the pointy end.”

Drivers were at a loss to explain why there were so few improvers late in the session.

“It’s hard to explain but it’s been that way lately that if you nail the first run it seems to be the quickest,” said Van Gisbergen.

“The car felt good, I just couldn’t match the time, even though I made a mistake in that first run.”

“I don’t know if the ambient came up, it got quite sunny,” added Courtney.

“It doesn’t sound like much but it affects how the tyre works.

“It was good for us to get fifth. It’s better than how we’ve been qualifying.”

Today’s 120km race will take place from 1630 local time.

Result: Virgin Australian Supercars Championship Red Rooster Sydney Super Sprint Race 18 Qualifying