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Scott McLaughlin will start both races Sunday at the ARMOR ALL Pole Repco The Bend SuperSprint, as he continues his quest for a third straight Supercars title.
Rebounding from a difficult Saturday that ended with a penalty and 14th place, the Shell V-Power Mustang driver was too good in both 10-minute qualifying sessions.
McLaughlin posted a 1: 48.0726s in the first session that set the grid for Race 26 of the season, just 0.0694s ahead of Shane van Gisbergen’s Red Bull Holden Commodore.
Saturday’s pole winner Chaz Mostert will share the second row with race winner Fabian Coulthard, while Andre Heimgartner continued Kelly Racing’s strong weekend in fifth place.
Meanwhile, McLaughlin’s main title challenger Jamie Whincup was in 11th place after making a mistake at Turn 17 on his only fastest lap.
In the second session to decide the grid for Race 27, McLaughlin improved to 1: 47.8280s – 0.1214s above Mostert, the next best.
Whincup fared better in the second hitout and will start the race from third ahead of Coulthard, Brad Jones Racing’s Nick Percat and van Gisbergen.
McLaughlin now has 12 poles for the season and it’s a great opportunity to increase his championship lead in the afternoon 24-lap races.
“[We made a] massive change in qualifying to give me confidence at the rear and I felt really good, “he said.
“Obviously it was a pretty crazy race yesterday and I hope we can do a good couple of starts and see where we are at the end of the first lap.”
Meanwhile, Whincup faces a difficult task in the opener to advance from 11th place on the grid.
“To be honest, I think it all started with the start of the lap, I didn’t have a really good survival,” he reflected on the first session.
“The car was good in the first two sectors, but I couldn’t keep going, and I also made a mistake, which was a double blow.
“The field is very tight right now if you make a little mistake or the car is not perfect and boom, you lose two places.
“We maxed out the second race, it’s probably the fastest we were going to go, P3, but I’m disappointed we didn’t max out the first.”
Those who finished on Saturday’s podium, Jack Le Brocq and Bryce Fullwood, struggled and failed to make the top 10 in either session.
Meanwhile, BJR’s Macauley Jones was one of the surprise artists: 13th in the first session and 10th in the second.
Tickford Racing had a mixed morning, with Cameron Waters as their top contender in both, set to start the respective races from sixth and seventh.
James Courtney was last in the first session, failing to set a representative time, before improving to 13th in the second.
“Yesterday I was recovering from the problem,” he explained about his problem in the first session.
“We changed the car and all the other guys were flat so balls [I] had a crack, went through the floor, climbed onto the exit curb, got hit a bit then sank deep [Turn] 6.
“And then I lost another lap for a second, so that’s disappointing. It all depends on me. “
Race 26 will begin at 11:55 am local time.
