Matt Payne has put together a monster of a lap to top this afternoon’s qualifying for the Supercars season finale at the Adelaide 500 by three-tenths of a second, setting himself up with the final run for this afternoon’s Top 10 Shootout.
Payne’s blistering 1:19.0984 came shortly after a mid-session red flag and put him on top, with Saturday’s winner Cam Waters getting closest to bettering it with a 1:19.3983.
Saturday’s runner-up, David Reynolds, rounded out the top three ahead of Broc Feeney, the first of the Camaros qualifying fourth from a late flier that relegated Erebus Racing’s Will Brown out of the top ten.
Thomas Randle and Chaz Mostert were fifth and sixth quickest, with newly-crowned 2023 champion Brodie Kostecki going seventh.
Andre Heimgartner makes for two Kiwis in the top ten, in eighth, while Todd Hazelwood and James Golding also progress to this afternoon’s Top 10 Shootout.
Shane van Gisbergen could only manage the 15th fastest time after Red Bull was forced to repair his car overnight following crash damage from a Lap 1 incident in Saturday’s running. Declan Fraser starts next to the Kiwi on the eighth row, with the Shell V-Power duo of Will Davison and Anton De Pasquale locking out the row ahead.
While the Drivers Championship was decided on Saturday, only 161 points separate Red Bull Racing and Erebus Motorsport ahead of the season finale, with a maximum of 288 up for grabs.
The 15-minute session was ultimately split into two halves after Truck Assist Racing’s Cam Hill had a high-speed accident at Turn 8, clipping the outside wall and spinning across the track to collect the inside barriers. The team will be left with their hands full should they be on the grid for this evening’s race.
The result of the delay saw a busy track over the closing stages, with several competitors, including Waters and Reynolds, having not set representative times before the incident.
Supercars return to the track at 2.35 pm for the Top 10 Shootout, with the season’s final race at 5.15 pm.
| Pole* | Payne |
| 2nd* | Waters |
| 3rd* | Reynolds |
| 4th* | Feeney |
| 5th* | Randle |
| 6th* | Mostert |
| 7th* | Kostecki |
| 8th* | Heimgartner |
| 9th* | Hazelwood |
| 10th* | Golding |
| 11th | Brown |
| 12th | Le Brocq |
| 13th | Davison |
| 14th | De Pasquale |
| 15th | Van Gisbergen |
| 16th | Fraser |
| 17th | Percat |
| 18th | Courtney |
| 19th | Pye |
| 20th | Slade |
| 21st | Fullwood |
| 22nd | Winterbottom |
| 23rd | Jones |
| 24th | Smith |
| 25th | Hill |
Header Image: Supercars
Congratulations Matt.raced at Waiuku Dirt track. Today got 2 wins and two seconds