Townsville Supercars: McLaughlin takes record-breaking pole
Scott McLaughlin broke the unofficial lap record in Townsville on his way to an eighth pole of the Supercars season.
Photo by: DJR Team Penske
The DJR Team Penske star was third quickest after the first runs, a 1m12.375s putting him within half a tenth of Chaz Mostert and Jamie Whincup.
He then jumped to the top with a lap record-busting 1m12.073s on his second run, McLaughlin deciding the time was good enough for pole and not even bothering with a third and final run.
“That was awesome, the car was fantastic,” said McLaughlin. “I wish I’d got the lap together – obviously I did, but there were a few little ifs, buts, and maybes there that I need to work on myself.”
Whincup was the big winner from the final runs, jumping Mostert on his last lap to grab the outside of the front row. Mostert didn’t improve on his final run, but still wound up third.
Cam Waters made it an all-Prodrive Racing second row with P4, ahead of Shane van Gisbergen and Mark Winterbottom.
Nick Percat and David Reynolds were next in line, while points leader Fabian Coulthard could manage just ninth, nearly half a second off his Penske teammate.
Still, the Kiwi was happy to be in the Top 10 at all after a difficult Friday.
“It’s much more comfortable for me today than it was yesterday,” he said.
“You’re trying to learn a new car in three laps, you get three times laps for three sets of tyres. I’m not unhappy with the performance, the boys have done fantastic job getting the car back up into the 10; we were nowhere near that yesterday.
“It’s all positive, we can move forward from there.”
Michael Caruso was the best Nissan in 10th, while Craig Lowndes survived a scary moment with Whincup at Turn 6 late in the session and was just 19th fastest.
Cla | # | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 17 | Scott McLaughlin | Ford Falcon FG-X | 1'12.0731 | |
2 | 88 | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 1'12.2864 | 0.2133 |
3 | 55 | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG-X | 1'12.3370 | 0.2639 |
4 | 6 | Cameron Waters | Ford Falcon FG-X | 1'12.3753 | 0.3022 |
5 | 97 | Shane van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 1'12.3969 | 0.3238 |
6 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG-X | 1'12.4221 | 0.3490 |
7 | 8 | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore VF | 1'12.4368 | 0.3637 |
8 | 9 | David Reynolds | Holden Commodore VF | 1'12.5555 | 0.4824 |
9 | 12 | Fabian Coulthard | Ford Falcon FG-X | 1'12.5586 | 0.4855 |
10 | 23 | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 1'12.6316 | 0.5585 |
11 | 14 | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 1'12.6465 | 0.5734 |
12 | 18 | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore VF | 1'12.6467 | 0.5736 |
13 | 33 | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 1'12.6505 | 0.5774 |
14 | 2 | Scott Pye | Holden Commodore VF | 1'12.6513 | 0.5782 |
15 | 7 | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1'12.6696 | 0.5965 |
16 | 22 | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | 1'12.6803 | 0.6072 |
17 | 34 | James Moffat | Holden Commodore VF | 1'12.7074 | 0.6343 |
18 | 15 | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 1'12.7396 | 0.6665 |
19 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 1'12.7589 | 0.6858 |
20 | 99 | Dale Wood | Holden Commodore VF | 1'12.7877 | 0.7146 |
21 | 56 | Jason Bright | Ford Falcon FG-X | 1'12.8433 | 0.7702 |
22 | 19 | Will Davison | Holden Commodore VF | 1'12.8609 | 0.7878 |
23 | 21 | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore VF | 1'13.2050 | 1.1319 |
24 | 78 | Simona de Silvestro | Nissan Altima | 1'13.5021 | 1.4290 |
25 | 3 | Aaren Russell | Holden Commodore VF | 1'13.6754 | 1.6023 |
26 | 62 | Alex Rullo | Holden Commodore VF | 1'13.7171 | 1.6440 |
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