Kostecki clinches Christchurch Race 2 pole as Cameron stars

Kostecki pipped Grove Racing’s Matt Payne by 0.0344s while Aaron Cameron qualified a standout third for the Blanchard Racing Team.

It was an all-Ford top five with Friday afternoon’s race winner Kai Allen fourth for Grove Racing while Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Broc Feeney was fifth.

“Stoked with that one. Put together a pretty good lap but the Grove cars are pretty fast again, so I’m sure we’ll have our work cut out for us in the race,” said Kostecki.

After Race 1, Kostecki lamented the end of Friday’s race as he couldn’t get past eventual race winner Kai Allen.

He said Dick Johnson Racing made a day-to-day swing at the set-up in their quest to find more time.

“We actually changed the car quite a lot for today, trying to find a bit more stability for the race,” Kostecki explained.

“It’s quite tricky with the parc ferme conditions. George (Commins, engineer) and co did a great job of getting the car balance back out with all the changes overnight. We’ll see how it plays out in the race.”

Ryan Wood set the pace on a 1:21.4401s when part two of qualifying began, even with a mistake at Pothole when he ran wide onto the grass.

Despite leaving some time on the table, Wood did not do a second run and wound up sixth and 0.3108s in arrears.

Will Brown (Triple Eight) was seventh ahead of James Golding (Blanchard Racing Team), Andre Heimgartner (Brad Jones Racing), and PremiAir Racing’s Jayden Ojeda.

Ojeda was a standout as the best Chevrolet in qualifying, having made it through to the second leg of qualifying with the eighth fastest time in part one.

Cameron Waters narrowly missed out on making it through to the second leg of qualifying, setting the 11th fastest time in part one.

“It’s probably just a bit of balance really and getting the car to flow a little bit nicer than what it is,” said Waters.

“I think we get into the race and we’re not too bad. We’re definitely stronger in race pace.

‘I actually felt a bit better then and obviously it’s super tight to get in the 10. Definitely could have been in the 10 then, for sure.

“We’ll keep learning and hopefully move forward.”

Champion Chaz Mostert was only 14th in the #1 Walkinshaw TWG Racing Toyota Supra.

Mostert reported handling issues with his car and went off the road at Turn 3 on his final flying lap.

“Not sure at the moment, got a lot of stuff to go through,” said Mostert.

“Just not that confident out there is my very biggest issue.

“Just got a bit too much stuff going on with the car. Under drive it, over drive it – just trying to find the flow for me has been a little bit tricky so far this weekend.

“We tuned the car for today but still missing a piece of the puzzle.

“Little bit me, little bit car. Just not gelling right at the moment.”

Action at the ITM Christchurch Super440 continues with Qualifying for Race 3 at 9:00am AEST.

Results: Repco Supercars Championship ITM Christchurch Super440, Qualifying Race 2