Gold Coast 600: Mostert takes provisional pole

The Tickford driver had been sitting fifth before the final runs, a three-tenth gain right at the flag good enough to launch him to the top of the times.

He ended up just 0.03s from fellow late improver Shane van Gisbergen, the pair relegating long-time pacesetter McLaughlin down to third.

“It was a tough session, so tight out there, I was really happy to get that last lap in,” said Mostert.

“I left nothing on the table, probably millimetres away from triggering sensors, but that’s what it takes around here.

“[I'm] super happy to get into the 10. Being the last car out, there’s more pressure. When you qualify like that in the session you wish there was no Top 10.”

Van Gisbergen had been right on the Shootout bubble before his final lap, a 1m10.464s taking him from ninth to first, until he was edged by Mostert.

For McLaughlin it was an odd session, the reigning champ damaging the left-hand side of his car with an early trip into the wall at the Turn 1 chicane.

He would later scrape the right-hand side of the car at the Beach Chicane, however a 1m10.519s in between those misadventures was still good enough for third.

“I’m trying to drive to a track number that probably isn’t quite there,” said a frustrated McLaughlin.

“We think the track is a lot faster than it actually is, so you’ve got to bring it back a bit, but you rely on a bit going on.

“We’ll sort it out, we’ve got a really fast car. That first lap, I couldn’t believe it stuck as my fastest for so long.”

Jamie Whincup and Lee Holdsworth were fourth and fifth, ahead of Cam Waters and Fabian Coulthard.

Andre Heimgartner will be the sole Nissan in the Shootout, David Reynolds and James Courtney also booking spots in the one-lap dash for pole.

Scott Pye was the first driver to miss the cut, falling 0.04s short of teammate Courtney to end up 11th.

Cla	#	Driver		Car	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	55	Chaz Mostert James Moffat		Ford Mustang GT	11	01'10.427			151.303
2	97	Shane van Gisbergen Garth Tander		Holden Commodore ZB	8	01'10.464	00.037	00.037	151.224
3	17	Scott McLaughlin Alexandre Prémat		Ford Mustang GT	9	01'10.519	00.091	00.054	151.108
4	888	Jamie Whincup Craig Lowndes		Holden Commodore ZB	8	01'10.582	00.154	00.063	150.971
5	5	Lee Holdsworth Thomas Randle		Ford Mustang GT	10	01'10.587	00.159	00.004	150.961
6	6	Cameron Waters Michael Caruso		Ford Mustang GT	10	01'10.644	00.216	00.056	150.839
7	12	Fabian Coulthard Tony D'Alberto		Ford Mustang GT	10	01'10.666	00.239	00.022	150.791
8	7	Andre Heimgartner Bryce Fullwood		Nissan Altima	11	01'10.680	00.252	00.013	150.763
9	9	David Reynolds Luke Youlden		Holden Commodore ZB	9	01'10.704	00.276	00.024	150.711
10	22	James Courtney Jack Perkins		Holden Commodore ZB	9	01'10.733	00.306	00.029	150.649
11	2	Scott Pye Warren Luff		Holden Commodore ZB	9	01'10.771	00.343	00.037	150.569
12	15	Rick Kelly Dale Wood		Nissan Altima	11	01'10.821	00.394	00.050	150.462
13	23	Will Davison Alex Davison		Ford Mustang GT	10	01'10.853	00.426	00.032	150.393
14	8	Nick Percat Tim Blanchard		Holden Commodore ZB	9	01'10.893	00.465	00.039	150.309
15	18	Mark Winterbottom Steven Richards		Holden Commodore ZB	11	01'10.977	00.549	00.083	150.131
16	99	Anton De Pasquale Will Brown		Holden Commodore ZB	10	01'10.977	00.550	00.000	150.131
17	35	Todd Hazelwood Jack Smith		Holden Commodore ZB	9	01'11.016	00.589	00.039	150.049
18	34	James Golding Richard Muscat		Holden Commodore ZB	11	01'11.194	00.766	00.177	149.674
19	14	Tim Slade Ash Walsh		Holden Commodore ZB	9	01'11.301	00.873	00.106	149.450
20	21	Macauley Jones Dean Canto		Holden Commodore ZB	8	01'11.580	01.152	00.279	148.867
21	33	Richie Stanaway Chris Pither		Holden Commodore ZB	11	01'11.608	01.180	00.027	148.809
22	78	Simona de Silvestro Alex Rullo		Nissan Altima	10	01'11.636	01.208	00.028	148.751
23	56	Brodie Kostecki Jake Kostecki		Holden Commodore ZB	11	01'11.718	01.291	00.082	148.580
24	3	Garry Jacobson Dean Fiore		Nissan Altima	10	01'11.886	01.458	00.167	148.234
25	19	Jack Le Brocq Jonathon Webb		Holden Commodore ZB	10	01'11.990	01.562	00.104	148.019