Darwin Supercars: McLaughlin clean sweeps Sunday poles
Scott McLaughlin will start both of today's Supercars races in Darwin from pole position.
Having stuck to the hard tyres yesterday, McLaughlin had plenty of soft compound Dunlops at his disposal for today's two 10-minute sessions.
He put them to good use, though, bagging a pair of poles to make it a clean sweep for the weekend.
In the first session McLaughlin only just pipped teammate Fabian Coulthard, the Penske pair separated by just two-hundredths of a second.
Race 1 winner Anton De Pasquale was third fastest followed by Jamie Whincup, Nick Percat, Andre Heimgartner and Shane van Gisbergen.
In the second session McLaughlin had more of a margin, a weekend-best 1m06.309s leaving him three-tenths clear of Whincup.
Van Gisbergen edged Chaz Mostert for third, with Cam Waters and Coulthard securing third-row starting spots.
"It's awesome to get pole times three," said McLaughlin. "It's fantastic to have a good spot to start from.
"The inside line into [Turn] 1 off the start is quite difficult to get off the line, but we'll do our best. To be up the front is an ideal situation."
Drivers will be free to choose compounds for both of today's two sprint races, with the majority of the field yet to play their soft tyres.
De Pasquale, James Courtney, Scott Pye and Jack Smith are the exceptions, having run softs in yesterday's opener.
Qualifying results Race 2
| Cla | # | Driver | Time | Gap | Interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17 |  Scott McLaughlin | 1'06.415 | ||
| 2 | 12 | Fabian Coulthard | 1'06.441 | 0.025 | 0.025 |
| 3 | 99 |  Anton De Pasquale | 1'06.676 | 0.260 | 0.235 |
| 4 | 88 | Jamie Whincup | 1'06.715 | 0.299 | 0.039 |
| 5 | 8 | Nick Percat | 1'06.728 | 0.312 | 0.013 |
| 6 | 7 | Andre Heimgartner | 1'06.755 | 0.339 | 0.026 |
| 7 | 97 | Shane van Gisbergen | 1'06.839 | 0.424 | 0.084 |
| 8 | 9 | David Reynolds | 1'06.862 | 0.446 | 0.022 |
| 9 | 18 | Mark Winterbottom | 1'06.895 | 0.480 | 0.033 |
| 10 | 25 | Chaz Mostert | 1'06.897 | 0.481 | 0.001 |
| 11 | 20 | Scott Pye | 1'06.899 | 0.484 | 0.002 |
| 12 | 44 | James Courtney | 1'06.904 | 0.488 | 0.004 |
| 13 | 6 | Cameron Waters | 1'06.924 | 0.508 | 0.020 |
| 14 | 15 | Rick Kelly | 1'06.994 | 0.579 | 0.070 |
| 15 | 55 | Jack Le Brocq | 1'07.034 | 0.618 | 0.039 |
| 16 | 3 | Macauley Jones | 1'07.105 | 0.690 | 0.071 |
| 17 | 5 | Lee Holdsworth | 1'07.141 | 0.725 | 0.035 |
| 18 | 19 | Alex Davison | 1'07.212 | 0.797 | 0.071 |
| 19 | 22 | Chris Pither | 1'07.265 | 0.850 | 0.052 |
| 20 | 34 | Jake Kostecki | 1'07.306 | 0.890 | 0.040 |
| 21 | 14 | Todd Hazelwood | 1'07.324 | 0.909 | 0.018 |
| 22 | 35 | Garry Jacobson | 1'07.367 | 0.952 | 0.043 |
| 23 | 2 | Bryce Fullwood | 1'07.473 | 1.057 | 0.105 |
| 24 | 4 | Jack Smith | 1'07.741 | 1.326 | 0.268 |
| View full results | |||||
Qualifying results Race 3
| Cla | # | Driver | Time | Gap | Interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17 | Scott McLaughlin | 1'06.309 | ||
| 2 | 88 | Jamie Whincup | 1'06.635 | 0.326 | 0.326 |
| 3 | 97 | Shane van Gisbergen | 1'06.740 | 0.431 | 0.104 |
| 4 | 25 | Chaz Mostert | 1'06.754 | 0.445 | 0.013 |
| 5 | 6 | Cameron Waters | 1'06.776 | 0.467 | 0.022 |
| 6 | 12 | Fabian Coulthard | 1'06.854 | 0.545 | 0.078 |
| 7 | 15 | Rick Kelly | 1'06.858 | 0.549 | 0.004 |
| 8 | 99 | Anton De Pasquale | 1'06.891 | 0.582 | 0.032 |
| 9 | 9 | David Reynolds | 1'06.921 | 0.612 | 0.030 |
| 10 | 8 | Nick Percat | 1'06.929 | 0.620 | 0.007 |
| 11 | 3 | Macauley Jones | 1'06.989 | 0.679 | 0.059 |
| 12 | 55 | Jack Le Brocq | 1'06.992 | 0.683 | 0.003 |
| 13 | 5 | Lee Holdsworth | 1'06.999 | 0.690 | 0.007 |
| 14 | 18 | Mark Winterbottom | 1'07.007 | 0.698 | 0.008 |
| 15 | 44 | James Courtney | 1'07.197 | 0.887 | 0.189 |
| 16 | 35 | Garry Jacobson | 1'07.241 | 0.932 | 0.044 |
| 17 | 34 | Jake Kostecki | 1'07.283 | 0.974 | 0.042 |
| 18 | 7 | Andre Heimgartner | 1'07.329 | 1.020 | 0.045 |
| 19 | 19 | Alex Davison | 1'07.332 | 1.023 | 0.003 |
| 20 | 4 | Jack Smith | 1'07.458 | 1.149 | 0.125 |
| 21 | 20 | Scott Pye | 1'07.465 | 1.156 | 0.007 |
| 22 | 2 | Bryce Fullwood | 1'07.466 | 1.157 | 0.000 |
| 23 | 22 | Chris Pither | 1'07.504 | 1.195 | 0.038 |
| 24 | 14 | Todd Hazelwood | 1'07.743 | 1.434 | 0.239 |
| View full results | |||||
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About this article
| Series | Supercars |
| Event | Hidden Valley |
| Author | Andrew van Leeuwen |
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