Waters upsets Davison to take pole for Race 27 at Pukekohe

Cameron Waters has claimed pole position for Race 27 of the Repco Supercars Championship at the ITM Auckland SuperSprint by edging Will Davison in qualifying.

Davison had looked the man to beat after finishing second in Practice 1 and first in Practice 2 in the #17 Shell V-Power Mustang, and held sway in the final minutes of the third and final part of Qualifying for Race 27 at Pukekohe.

However, he was unable to improve on his 1:02.0680s and Tickford Racing’s Waters snatched pole with a 1:01.9984s in the #50 Monster Energy Mustang.

Championship leader Shane van Gisbergen was seventh-quickest in the #97 Red Bull Ampol ZB Commodore, in a session which unfolded with a level of tension given it was declared wet before the start and there was evidence of very light rain during Part 3, but all ran on slicks throughout.

Six drivers rolled out at the start of that last 10-minute stanza, with Davison going quickest on a 1:02.0680s from Waters on a 1:02.1667s, while van Gisbergen was sixth on a 1:06.2399s.

Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus ZB Commodore), third-quickest at the time, led them out for the final runs with just under four minutes remaining and, after briefly being bettered by Andre Heimgartner, would reclaim third with a 1:02.1922s.

Waters then fired in the first ‘one’ of the weekend, while Davison fell barely more than a hundredth of a second short of his first-run time in setting a 1:02.0824s.

With the chequered flag out, Mostert consolidated third on a 1:02.1218s while Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang) moved up to fourth with a 1:02.2038s.

Heimgartner therefore ended up fifth with a 1:02.2199s in the #8 R&J Batteries ZB Commodore and will be joined on Row 3 by Scott Pye (#20 Nulon ZB Commodore).

Row 4 is all-Triple Eight Race Engineering with van Gisbergen clocking a 1:02.3355s and Broc Feeney (#88 ZB Commodore) a 1:02.4311s.

James Golding (#31 Subway ZB Commodore) got through to the final segment and managed ninth with a 1:02.4374s with only another pair of front tyres left, while James Courtney (#5 Snowy River Caravans Mustang) rounded out the top 10.

Earlier, in Part 2 of the session, Davison set the pace on a 1:02.0232s while Pye was last through on a 1:02.3810s.

First to miss out on progression was Nick Percat, who was bumped out by Courtney just before the chequered flag, meaning the #2 Mobil 1 NTI ZB Commodore is set to start 11th.

Percat revealed that he had set his 1:02.3866s on used rubber after Walkinshaw Andretti United rolled the dice on tyre strategy, and is set to share Row 6 with Tim Slade (#3 CoolDrive Mustang).

Jake Kostecki (#56 Tradie Mustang), David Reynolds (#26 Penrite Mustang), and Macauley Jones (#96 Kubota ZB Commodore) filled 13th through 15th, with Thomas Randle (#55 Castrol Mustang) qualifying 16th after a big moment through the grass exiting the final corner.

Rounding out the top 20 were Jack Smith (#4 SCT Logistics ZB Commodore), Mark Winterbottom (#18 Irwin Tools ZB Commodore), Jack Le Brocq (#34 Truck Assist ZB Commodore), and Brodie Kostecki (#99 Boost Mobile ZB Commodore).

Back in Part 1, Heimgartner was quickest with a 1:02.4460s while Brodie Kostecki rescued a top 20 with a 1:02.9005s after the chequered flag, having run off at Turn 3 earlier in the segment.

It looked as though Kostecki’s effort had bumped Erebus Motorsport team-mate Will Brown, but it turned out that Jones’ #96 ZB Commodore had a transponder issue.

As such, Car #96 was reclassified from 25th to 14th and Brodie Kostecki had in fact knocked out another Brad Jones Racing entry, namely the #14 Middy’s ZB Commodore of Bryce Fullwood.

The Territorian will therefore start 21st and Brown 22nd, ahead of Lee Holdsworth (#10 Penrite Mustang), Todd Hazelwood (#35 Truck Assist ZB Commodore), and Chris Pither (#22 Coca-Cola ZB Commodore).

Race 27 of the season, a 41-lapper, starts at 16:40 local time/14:40 AEST.

Results: Qualifying for Race 27, ITM Auckland SuperSprint