Scott McLaughlin has claimed his record breaking seventh career pole around Sydney Motorsport Park in the first Supercars qualifying post its Covid-19 hiatus.
A kiwi front low lockout will headline proceedings after McLaughlin narrowly beat title rival Shane Van Gisbergen in the Top 15 shootout.
Tickford stablemates Cam Waters and Chaz Mostert will make up the second row behind the kiwi pairing.
An earlier timed qualifying session set the stage for the afternoon’s shootout. A threat of some inclement weather did little to deter McLaughlin who powered his DJR Team Penske Mustang to the head of the leaderboards.
In a surprising twist, David Reynolds and Andre Heimgartner failed to make it into the Top 15 and will line up well down in 16th and 18th for today’s first 32-lapper.
The shootout started with drama when Rick Kelly was sentenced with a track limits penalty, meaning the Castrol Mustang will start from 15th.
Despite a lacklustre qualifying performance, Waters set an ultra-competitive 1.28.2602 in the shootout to give the Monster Energy crew something to smile about.
One-by-one they came and yet no one could seemingly match Waters until Van Gisbergen would light the timing screens purple with a 1.28.1762 with only a handful of drivers to follow.
With failed efforts by Red Bull teammate Jamie Whincup and DJR’s Fabian Coulthard, Van Gisbergen only had to fend off McLaughlin for pole.
A rapid opening two sector intermediates put McLaughlin in the prime position to snare his 62nd career pole which he duly delivered by setting the first sub 1.28 lap time of the day with an impressive 1.27.9658.
Attention now turns to today’s final event – race 3 of the championship which is slated to begin from 5.30 pm
| Pos | Driver | Split |
| 1 | Scott McLaughlin | 1:27.9658 |
| 2 | Shane van Gisbergen | 0:00.2104 |
| 3 | Cameron Waters | 0:00.2944 |
| 4 | Chaz Mostert | 0:00.3198 |
| 5 | Jamie Whincup | 0:00.3271 |
| 6 | Nick Percat | 0:00.3795 |
| 7 | Lee Holdsworth | 0:00.4201 |
| 8 | Scott Pye | 0:00.4297 |
| 9 | Anton De Pasquale | 0:00.5003 |
| 10 | Fabian Coulthard | 0:00.5320 |
| 11 | Bryce Fullwood | 0:00.7493 |
| 12 | Todd Hazelwood | 0:01.1668 |
| 13 | Mark Winterbottom | 0:01.2650 |
| 14 | Macauley Jones | 0:01.3932 |
| 15 | Rick Kelly |
