Golding fastest in opening Darwin qualifying, Heimgartner 10th

James Golding has qualified fastest for the opening race of the Darwin Triple Crown at Hidden Valley Raceway to secure the final run in Saturday’s Top 10 Shootout.

The Nulon Racing driver, who was second fastest in the earlier practice session, led at the mid-point of the 15-minute timed run with a 1:05.8655 flyer.

Mark Winterbottom and Nick Percat then bettered that time to leave Golding third entering the final minute, but the 28-year-old responded with a 1:05.6912 to secure provisional pole.

Percat was only 0.0742 seconds off Golding in second, ahead of Mark Winterbottom in third.

The Red Bull pairing of Broc Feeney and Will Brown climbed towards the top of the order on their final laps and finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Anton De Pasquale’s 1:05.9434 came after the chequered flag for sixth and relegated Brodie Kostecki outside the top ten to 11th on the grid for tomorrow’s race.

David Reynolds, Tim Slade, Cam Waters and Andre Heimgartner were the other drivers who progressed to the Top 10 Shootout.

Heimgartner was the only Kiwi to progress, with Matt Payne set to start from 13th, next to teammate Richie Stanaway.

Jaxon Evans qualified 21st, while Ryan Wood starts 24th. It was a challenging session for Walkinshaw Andretti United, with Wood’s teammate, Chaz Mostert, a surprise 22nd.

Twenty of the twenty-five competitors bettered the fastest lap set in this afternoon’s hour-long practice session, which Brown topped.

Less than nine-tenths of a second separated the entire field.

Supercars return to the track for Practice 2 at 12.05 pm NZST on Saturday, with the Top 10 Shootout following at 2.05 pm.

The opening race of the Darwin Triple Crown begins at 5.40 pm on Saturday.

Darwin Triple Crown Race 1 Qualifying

Header Image: Nulon Racing