Townsville Supercars: Van Gisbergen takes provisional Sunday pole

Like yesterday, the preference was three runs across the 20-minute session. Unlike yesterday, however, the pole lap actually came on the third and final run, van Gisbergen improving by two tenths to log a 1m12.655s, enough to give him provisional pole by 0.06s.

That means van Gisbergen will run last in today’s Top 10 Shootout, which will determine the starting order for the first 10 cars.

“It’s awesome to get in the Shootout,” said van Gisbergen. “The car has been really good all weekend. We lacked a little bit [yesterday], Jamie was in a class of his own. We went a little towards their set-up, and it paid off. Hopefully we can stay up there in the Shootout.”

Whincup was second fastest, failing to improve on his final run thanks to a rear-wheel lock-up on the way into Turn 2 on his last lap.

Mark Winterbottom was third fastest in the Prodrive Ford, holding off Will Davison by two hundredths.

Craig Lowndes bounced back from a quiet Saturday by booking a Shootout spot with P5, while Scott McLaughlin did likewise, taking a big step towards making amends for his horror Race 1 with the sixth best time.

Chaz Mostert was seventh fastest, ahead of David Reynolds, who made the Shootout despite keeping a set of greens up his sleeve at the end of the session.

Scott Pye improved late to sneak into the Shootout with P9, with Garth Tander the 10th and final driver to secure a spot in the one-lap dash.

Nissan’s Dale Wood was the unlucky driver to end up on the wrong side of the 10, falling just one hundredth short of a Shootout spot with P11.