After being at or near the top of the timesheets all day long, both Shell V-Power Racing Mustangs were looking strong to book a berth in tomorrow’s Top 10 Shootout.
In the early stages of the qualifying session, Fabian Coulthard went to the top of the timesheets with the first 1m19s second lap of the weekend. His lap was then bettered by teammate Scott McLaughlin, who went just under two tenths faster.
Cars rolled out for final efforts with four minutes remaining. McLaughlin made a minor error on his lap, and aborted to sit on his previous best effort, which remained good enough for provisional pole.
“Today was a really good day, I think we had to reset a bit after yesterday,” commented McLaughlin. “We worked our way through, and this afternoon for qualifying the car was lit, it was awesome – the best it’s been all weekend.
“I’m feeling very comfortable in the Mustang, it’s a good car, we’ve still got room to build on it and it have plenty to work on from here. The shootout is going to be great, I’m looking forward to having a crack.”
Coulthard improved his time, however he was bettered slightly by Jamie Whincup at the death to finish third for the session. This means that both Shell V-Power Racing Mustangs have booked a place in the Top 10 Shootout tomorrow afternoon, which starts at 2:05pm local time.
“I’m happy with the result,” commented Whincup. “Coming in from the test day and yesterday, I didn’t think it was possible, but the engineers did a great job. They’ve kept tuning the car and moving forward all day, just making it better and better which definitely made us competitive.
“We pushed hard in the qualifying session, we are up the front and starting second last for the shootout. I’m very happy but tomorrow is pay day and we need to focus on that.”
“It’s really nice to have a car that’s predictable, it’s definitely an improvement over the Falcon,” said Coulthard. “We’ve worked hard on improving our cars, especially on street circuits, so to come here and be strong is comforting. It’s good for the confidence. We’ve got two Shell V-Power cars in the top three, and that’s a credit to everyone in our team.”
Qualifying for Race 1
Pos Num Driver Car Fastest lap
1 17 Scott McLaughlin Ford Mustang GT 1:19.5983
2 88 Jamie Whincup Holden Commodore ZB 1:19.6483
3 12 Fabian Coulthard Ford Mustang GT 1:19.6663
4 8 Nick Percat Holden Commodore ZB 1:19.6678
5 6 Cameron Waters Ford Mustang GT 1:19.7432
6 23 Will Davison Ford Mustang GT 1:19.7618
7 97 Shane van Gisbergen Holden Commodore ZB 1:19.8946
8 15 Rick Kelly Nissan Altima 1:19.9029
9 9 David Reynolds Holden Commodore ZB 1:20.0107
10 22 James Courtney Holden Commodore ZB 1:20.0566
11 14 Tim Slade Holden Commodore ZB 1:20.0644
12 55 Chaz Mostert Ford Mustang GT 1:20.0829
13 7 Andre Heimgartner Nissan Altima 1:20.1532
14 5 Lee Holdsworth Ford Mustang GT 1:20.2092
15 2 Scott Pye Holden Commodore ZB 1:20.2864
16 18 Mark Winterbottom Holden Commodore ZB 1:20.3581
17 21 Macauley Jones Holden Commodore ZB 1:20.3643
18 33 Richie Stanaway Holden Commodore ZB 1:20.4014
19 34 James Golding Holden Commodore ZB 1:20.4663
20 3 Garry Jacobson Nissan Altima 1:20.4927
21 35 Todd Hazelwood Holden Commodore ZB 1:20.6134
22 78 Simona De Silvestro Nissan Altima 1:20.7216
23 19 Jack Le Brocq Holden Commodore ZB 1:20.9141
24 99 Anton De Pasquale Holden Commodore ZB No Time
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