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Australia
Qualifying report

Ipswich Supercars: McLaughlin storms to Race 1 pole

Scott McLaughlin will start the first Supercars race at Queensland Raceway from pole after topping qualifying for a ninth time this season.

Scott McLaughlin, DJR Team Penske Ford

Scott McLaughlin, DJR Team Penske Ford

Dirk Klynsmith / Motorsport Images

Scott McLaughlin, DJR Team Penske Ford
David Reynolds, Erebus Motorsport Holden
Chaz Mostert, Tickford Racing Ford
Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden
Fabian Coulthard, DJR Team Penske Ford
Craig Lowndes, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden
Scott McLaughlin, DJR Team Penske Ford
Jamie Whincup, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden

The Penske driver was quickest through both phases of qualifying, going top on his first proper run with a 1m08.814s on the seven-minute mark as times dropped under the 1m09s mark for the first time all weekend.

He then backed that up with a stunning effort on his final run, forced to dig deep by improvements from Fabian Coulthard and David Reynolds but coming up with the goods thanks to a 1m08.501s.

"That one felt really good," said McLaughlin. "We weren't amazing in practice, but we were there. We just made a massive leap forward then, the car was fantastic.

"It was all about doing the right lap there and trying to execute it as best as I could. I felt like that was all that was left in it. It felt like one of my best laps of the year, it was just solid."

Chaz Mostert put in an impressive final run of his own to put the out-of-form Tickford outfit on the front row thanks to a 1m08.671s. However, he is under investigation for potentially having impeded Shane van Gisbergen at the final turn on the first run.

"I didn't really see his headlights, but I thought I'd still stay quite wide and out of the way," said Mostert.

"Its one of things, Gizzy is always line-ball with those kind of things as well. Can't do much about it. If he brakes any later than that he's probably off the track.

"It wasn't intentional to bugger him over, I don't like to do that. Fingers crossed we can hold on to that position."

Coulthard ended up third after being bumped off the front row by Mostert's late lap, with David Reynolds grabbing the outside of the second row.

Rick Kelly was the best Nissan in fifth, while Jamie Whincup could manage just sixth as the best-placed Triple Eight car.

The fourth row is Nissan-Triple Eight as well, Michael Caruso going seventh quickest with van Gisbergen eighth, although left ruing the run-in with Mostert.

"I guess he didn't see or the team didn't tell him," said the Kiwi. "It didn't look intentional but we were a bit out of phase. I'm sure he didn't mean it. Anyway, we were quite good enough. But yeah, hopefully some clear laps would have helped too. It definitely hurt us."

Nick Percat was the lone Brad Jones Racing entry in the Top 10 in ninth, one spot ahead of Craig Lowndes.

ClaDriverCarTimeGap
1 17 new_zealand  Scott McLaughlin  Ford Falcon FG X 1'08.5014  
2 55 australia  Chaz Mostert  Ford Falcon FG X 1'08.6718 0.1704
3 12 new_zealand  Fabian Coulthard  Ford Falcon FG X 1'08.6923 0.1909
4 9 australia  David Reynolds  Holden Commodore ZB 1'08.7217 0.2203
5 15 australia  Rick Kelly  Nissan Altima 1'08.7522 0.2508
6 1 australia  Jamie Whincup  Holden Commodore ZB 1'08.7657 0.2643
7 23 australia  Michael Caruso  Nissan Altima 1'08.9264 0.4250
8 97 new_zealand  Shane van Gisbergen  Holden Commodore ZB 1'08.9565 0.4551
9 8 australia  Nick Percat  Holden Commodore ZB 1'08.9905 0.4891
10 888 australia  Craig Lowndes  Holden Commodore ZB 1'09.0023 0.5009
11 33 australia  Garth Tander  Holden Commodore ZB 1'09.0228 0.5214
12 25 australia  James Courtney  Holden Commodore ZB 1'09.0563 0.5549
13 120 australia  Will Davison  Ford Falcon FG X 1'09.0614 0.5600
14 56 new_zealand  Richie Stanaway  Ford Falcon FG X 1'09.0956 0.5942
15 14 australia  Tim Slade  Holden Commodore ZB 1'09.1609 0.6595
16 78 switzerland  Simona de Silvestro  Nissan Altima 1'09.1703 0.6689
17 7 new_zealand  Andre Heimgartner  Nissan Altima 1'09.1848 0.6834
18 2 australia  Scott Pye  Holden Commodore ZB 1'09.1885 0.6871
19 34 australia  James Golding  Holden Commodore ZB 1'09.2142 0.7128
20 5 australia  Mark Winterbottom  Ford Falcon FG X 1'09.2557 0.7543
21 6 australia  Cameron Waters  Ford Falcon FG X 1'09.2823 0.7809
22 99 australia  Anton de Pasquale  Holden Commodore ZB 1'09.3080 0.8066
23 19 australia  Jack Le Brocq  Holden Commodore ZB 1'09.3552 0.8538
24 35 australia  Todd Hazelwood  Ford Falcon FG X 1'09.4364 0.9350
25 18 australia  Lee Holdsworth  Holden Commodore ZB 1'09.5701 1.0687
26 21 australia  Tim Blanchard  Holden Commodore ZB 1'09.5843 1.0829
27 42 australia  Kurt Kostecki  Holden Commodore ZB 1'09.7521 1.2507

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