Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters has blazed to pole position for Repco Supercars Championship Race 13 at the Betr Darwin Triple Crown while Erebus Motorsport’s championship-leading duo missed the top 10.
Waters topped Part 2 of the three-part knockout session at Hidden Valley with a 1:05.9986s and backed that up with a 1:05.9027s when pole pole was on the line in the final 10 minutes of Qualifying for Race 13.
The #6 Monster Energy Mustang will share the front row this afternoon with the #88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro of Broc Feeney, who finished up 0.1058s off the pace.
Team 18’s Mark Winterbottom (#18 DeWalt Camaro) qualified third and Shane van Gisbergen (#97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) bounced back from his Friday issues to claim fourth on the starting grid.
Championship leader Brodie Kostecki (#99 Coca-Cola Camaro), however, is set to start 11th after not going out at the end of Part 2 of the session and getting bumped out by 0.0168s.
Feeney and Will Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang) were the first two to roll out in the final stanza, almost four minutes in, and the former set an impressive target for the rest of a 1:06.0085s.
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Davison followed with a 1:06.2747s before Winterbottom usurped him with a 1:06.1283s.
As is typical for Hidden Valley, it effectively became a shootout with only one genuine flying lap on each tyre set.
Van Gisbergen went to third on a 1:06.1934s in a #97 Camaro which Triple Eight Race Engineering virtually rebuilt overnight as it chased a mysterious handling issue.
Then it was Waters who nailed the 1:05.9027s which would not be beaten, making for his first pole position of the season.
Davison was thus shuffled to fifth while Bryce Fullwood (#14 Middy’s Camaro) took sixth with the final flying lap of the session, a 1:06.4682s.
The rest of the top 10 was James Golding (#31 Nulon Camaro), Tim Slade (#23 Nulon Camaro), Scott Pye (#20 Hino Camaro), and Thomas Randle (#55 Castrol Mustang), the former of whom may have a case to answer over possible impeding in Part 2 of the session.
In that earlier segment, Waters was quickest with the first ‘five’ of the weekend while Erebus team-mates Kostecki and Will Brown (#9 Coca-Cola Camaro) both missed out.
Feeney was quickest of the seven drivers who rolled out early in the 15 minutes on a 1:06.6642s, presumably on used tyres, before team-mate van Gisbergen set a 1:06.5400s.
Winterbottom was next to move the marker, to a 1:06.2508s, before Davison took up second on a 1:06.2727s.
Ahead of the final runs, notables outside the top 10 included Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang) in 15th, Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang) in 17th, Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries Camaro) in 18th, and Brown in 20th.
Brad Jones Racing duo Fullwood and Heimgartner went off-sequence, moving up to second on a 1:06.2609s and seventh on a 1:06.4967s respectively with about four minutes to go.
In the final minute, Feeney went quickest on a 1:06.2166s and van Gisbergen all but made sure of his passage to the final 10 minutes on a 1:06.2684s.
Then it was Waters clocking the 1:05.9986s before Golding jumped to third on a 1:06.2294s to bump practice pace-setter De Pasquale out of the top 10, and Slade to second on a 1:06.1294s to relegate Kostecki to 11th.
Kostecki and De Pasquale will therefore share Row 6, ahead of Jack Le Brocq (#34 Truck Assist Camaro), Matt Payne (#19 Penrite Mustang), Heimgartner, Cameron Hill (#35 Truck Assist Camaro), Mostert, Zane Goddard (#888 Supercheap Auto Camaro), Brown, and James Courtney (#5 Snowy River Caravans Mustang).
Back in Part 1, De Pasquale set a 1:06.1491s with the chequered flag out which vaulted him from the elimination zone to the top, while David Reynolds (#26 Penrite Mustang) and Nick Percat (#2 Mobil 1 NTI Mustang) were among those to miss out.
Six drivers set a lap time in the opening minutes of the segment, Golding the fastest on a 1:06.4838s.
Once almost everyone had been through for a flying lap, Heimgartner was top on a 1:06.1870s while van Gisbergen was fifth on a 1:06.2500s.
With a minute to go, Mostert was dead last before setting a 1:06.3920s which would ultimately be good enough for 14th, but his Walkinshaw Andretti United team-mate Percat could not do similar.
Declan Fraser (#56 Tradie Mustang) was bumped by De Pasquale’s effort and will start 21st this afternoon, from Todd Hazelwood (#3 CoolDrive Mustang), Reynolds at 0.3256s off the fastest pace at the time, Jack Smith (#4 SCT Logistics Camaro), Macauley Jones (#96 Pizza Hut Camaro), and Percat.
Race 13, a 35-lapper, is due to start at 15:25 local time/15:55 AEST.
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