Chaz Mostert showed his class in difficult wet conditions to claim the Armor All Pole Position for Race 21 at the Vodafone Gold Coast 600.

The slippery track conditions provided a shake up to the grid for this afternoon’s race as drivers were pushed to the limit on the 2.96km circuit.

Mostert set the initial pace with a 1:24s effort but as the session progressed he went on to post a 1:21.54s effort to shoot back to the top of the times.

His time arrived just as the red flags were shown with two and half minutes remaining when Erebus Motorsport’s Dale Wood found the tyre barriers at Turn 3, causing damage to the front of the Holden.

The rain intensified when the session resumed restricting drivers from improving upon their times.

“It was a battle out there and I was very lucky to get a good time,” said Mostert.

“The car was good in the dry and worked well in the wet, but it is very sketchy out there and very easy to make a mistake.”

Early pacesetter Jamie Whincup will join Mostert on the front row despite a scary moment that saw the Triple Eight driver slide into the barriers at Turn 11.

The Shell V-Power Racing Fords struggled with Scott McLaughlin only 12th fastest, while championship leader Fabian Coulthard was four places further back in 16th position.

Coulthard was lucky to avoid the concrete wall when he had a wild spin at Turn 11.

Meanwhile, Brad Jones Racing’s Tim Slade was third fastest ahead of Nissan Motorsport’s Michael Caruso.

Nissan Motorsport and Brad Jones Racing quickly adapted to the conditions with Rick Kelly fifth and Nick Percat sixth.

Shane van Gisbergen, who topped the session early in the running, had to settle for seventh, while the top 10 was completed by Mark Winterbottom (Prodrive), Todd Kelly (Nissan Motorsport) and Lee Holdsworth (Preston Hire Racing).

Craig Lowndes just missed out on the top 10 in 11th position, ahead of Scott Pye, who was the top Mobil 1 HSV Racing runner in 13th spot.

Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport’s Alex Rullo was the only other driver to suffer a spin during the session, when he lost the rear of his Holden at Turn 11.

The field will line up for Race 21 at 1425 local time.

Armor All Qualifying for Race 21: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship Vodafone Castrol Gold Coast 600