Kostecki beats Payne to Saturday Townsville pole

The Dick Johnson Racing driver was second-fastest in the preceding qualifying session before blazing a 1:12.6622s in the Top 10 Shootout.

Matt Payne, who came into the shootout with the fastest time, couldn’t back up his provisional pole effort with a 1:12.7708s to end up 0.1086s in arrears.

Kostecki said he made a mistake at Turn 3 during his flying lap that he thought may have cost him a shot at pole.

“I turned in a little bit too early, turned in a little bit better than I expected and got four wheels over the inside kerb there,” Kostecki explained.

“It just spat me off-line and had to grab the brake pedal again. I was really dirty with myself.

“Just tried to clear my head before the next set of corners and really nailed the rest of the lap. Pretty pleased about that.

“It’s a long race ahead of us this afternoon. We’ll just have to do the best job we can. The car has been fast in race trim.

Tickford Racing’s Thomas Randle was a standout in the shootout, climbing from sixth to third.

Walkinshaw TWG Racing driver Ryan Wood fell one place to fourth in his Toyota while Randle’s teammate Cameron Waters also fell one place to fifth.

“Thomas obviously laid down a really good lap and I was expecting Cam to go maybe a little bit better with how fast he was yesterday,” said Kostecki.

“George (Commings, race engineer) did a great job tuning up the tyre pressures a little bit and we were able to get the Shell V-Power Racing Ford Mustang on the front row again.

“Pretty stoked about that. All the boys and girls in the team have given me a great car all weekend. Just a pleasure to drive.”

Aaron Cameron (Blanchard Racing Team), Kai Allen (Grove Racing), James Golding (Blanchard Racing Team), Chaz Mostert (Walkinshaw TWG Racing), and Rylan Gray (Dick Johnson Racing) completed the top 10.

Race 2 of the Townsville 500 gets underway at 3:05pm AEST.

Results: Repco Supercars Championship NTI Townsville 500, Race 2 Top 10 Shootout