Payne flies to provisional pole, SVG qualifies 15th

Penrite Racing’s Matt Payne is the provisional pole-sitter for Race 28 at the Vailo Adelaide 500 while Shane van Gisbergen has qualified 15th for his Repco Supercars Championship farewell.

Rookie Payne was the best part of three tenths of a second – 0.2999s, to be precise – ahead of the field, with Tickford Racing’s Cam Waters best of the rest in the #43 Monster Energy Mustang and David Reynolds third in the other Penrite Mustang.

Broc Feeney was fourth-quickest in the 15-minute hit-out but his Red Bull Ampol Racing team-mate Shane van Gisbergen will not take part in this afternoon’s Top 10 Shootout.

Champion-elect Brodie Kostecki is through in a provisional seventh in the #99 Coca-Cola Camaro, while Erebus Motorsport team-mate Will Brown qualified the #9 Coca-Cola Camaro in 11th after a mammoth overnight rebuild.

Once again, it was cloudy but dry at the Adelaide Parklands Circuit for the final qualifying session of the year.

With a number of the big hitters completing a warm up run before returning to the pits, Tim Slade (#23 Nulon Camaro) set the quickest first flyer, a 1:20.2192s.

Next time through, it was Todd Hazelwood (#3 Redarc Mustang) top on a 1:19.7330s from Jack Le Brocq (#34 Truck Assist Camaro) on a 1:19.7716s.

Le Brocq’s Matt Stone Racing team-mate Cameron Hill (#35 Truck Assist Camaro) would then cause a red flag when he crashed at Turn 8.

Hill made heavy contact with the concrete walls after a scrape with the inside guardrail had sent him off-course, but was able to exit the vehicle under his own power.

Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang) was fastest in the first and second sectors at the time the red flag was called, but had to bail out of the lap.

After the session restarted, Reynolds took over top spot with a 1:19.6998s but was quickly usurped by Waters on a 1:19.5030s and Tickford’s Thomas Randle (#55 Castrol Mustang) on a 1:19.4189s.

Reynolds then moved the marker to a 1:19.4073s before Payne stormed to a 1:19.0984s which would be good enough for provisional pole position.

Waters split the Grove Racing duo with a 1:19.3983s, while the Triple Eight Race Engineering drivers were in a battle to make the top 10.

With the chequered flag out, Feeney jumped from 12th to fourth on a 1:19.4097s in the #88 Camaro, but van Gisbergen could only manage 13th on a 1:19.7305s when he subsequently crossed the control line, before being usurped by both of the Shell V-Power Racing Team Mustangs.

The top 10 all-told was Payne, Waters, Reynolds, Feeney, Randle, Mostert on a 1:19.4662s which was slower than he looked like going when the red flag came out, Kostecki on a 1:19.5632s, Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries Camaro), Hazelwood, and James Golding (#31 Nulon Camaro).

Brown missed out on the shootout by 0.0575s and will share Row 6 with Le Brocq, while Will Davison (#17 Mustang) and Anton De Pasquale (#11 Mustang) lock out Row 7 in the Dick Johnson Racing entries.

The Top 10 Shootout takes place at 12:05 local time/12:35 AEDT.

Results: Qualifying for Race 28, Vailo Adelaide 500