Waters scores provisional pole for Supercars Race 19

Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters has taken provisional pole position for Race 19 of the Repco Supercars Championship at the NTI Townsville 500.

Waters set a final-minute 1:13.0869s in the #6 Monster Energy Mustang to beat Red Bull Ampol Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen to top spot by 0.1224s, although the championship leader had already put his cue in the rack before the final runs.

Both Triple Eight Race Engineering cars, both Shell V-Power Racing Team cars, Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert, and Brad Jones Racing’s Friday fast man, Andre Heimgartner, made this afternoon’s Top 10 Shootout, among others.

Broc Feeney (#88 ZB Commodore) was fastest initially but Shell V-Power’s Will Davison (#17 Mustang) held sway once most had set a some way representative lap with a 1:13.3466s, compared to a 1:13.5325s for the Red Bull Ampol tyro.

Van Gisbergen waited longer than most to venture out for his opening run and jumped to the top on his second genuine flyer when he clocked a 1:13.2093s in the #97 ZB Commodore.

With the first runs done, arguably the biggest name outside the top 10 was Mostert, who sat 15th in the #25 Mobil 1 Optus ZB Commodore at 0.1527s outside the provisional Shootout positions.

Davison joined van Gisbergen in also sitting out the final few minutes of proceedings while the rest of the 23 drivers went again in a bid to secure passage to the one-lap dash.

Jack Le Brocq (#34 Truck Assist ZB Commodore) climbed from 11th to third with a 1:13.4551s before Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang) moved up from the danger zone to fourth on a 1:13.5034s.

Waters then fired in his 1:13.0869s and, with the chequered flag out, Heimgartner moved to third with a 1:13.3026s in the #8 R&J Batteries ZB Commodore and Mostert improved from 17th to seventh with a 1:13.5160s.

The top eight after the 15-minute hit-out ended up being Waters, van Gisbergen, Heimgartner, Davison, Le Brocq, De Pasquale, Mostert, and Feeney.

Scott Pye (#20 Nulon ZB Commodore) and Tim Slade (#3 CoolDrive Mustang) both booked their passage to the Shootout with late laps, taking ninth and 10th respectively, but David Reynolds was bumped out by Mostert’s final effort.

The #26 Penrite Mustang is thus set to start 11th, Reynolds having been only 0.0442s too slow, with Thomas Randle (#55 Castrol Mustang) to join him on Row 6.

Nick Percat (#2 Mobil 1 NTI ZB Commodore) qualified 20th and PremiAir Racing newcomer James Golding (#31 Subway ZB Commodore) 21st.

The Top 10 Shootout for Race 19 starts at 12:00 local time/AEST.

Results: Qualifying for Race 19, NTI Townsville 500