All three Kiwi drivers have secured places in tomorrow’s Supercars Gold Coast 500 Top 10 Shootout, with Matt Payne, Andre Heimgartner and Ryan Wood qualifying third, fourth and sixth respectively for Race 31.
Anton De Pasquale topped the session with a 1:09.077, ahead of Broc Feeney and Payne, in a closely fought qualifying session that saw just 0.299 seconds separate the top ten.
With the sun making an appearance for the first time in days, Chaz Mostert set the early pace with a 1:09.691, followed by teammate Wood just 0.090 seconds behind, with Heimgartner third.
James Golding soon improved the benchmark to 1:09.583, then Payne went quicker on his first flying lap, posting 1:09.453 to take the top spot.
With 17 minutes remaining, Cam Waters went fastest with a 1:09.376, just 0.039 seconds ahead of Brodie Kostecki and 0.076 seconds clear of Payne. Mostert responded a minute later, returning to the top with a 1:09.346, just 0.030 seconds quicker than Waters.
At that point, Heimgartner sat ninth, three tenths off the pace, while Wood was 11th, just over four tenths behind. Drivers then returned to the pits for fresh tyres and fuel ahead of their next runs.
With nine minutes remaining, Feeney moved to the top with a 1:09.287, while Thomas Randle slotted into second, just 0.008 seconds behind. Mostert dropped to third, with only a tenth separating the top five.
Another round of pit stops followed with six minutes to go, with Feeney leading Randle, Mostert, Waters, Kostecki, Heimgartner, Payne, Golding, De Pasquale and Zach Bates.
Payne was the next to improve, setting a 1:09.151 to take the top spot, while Will Brown moved into second, just over a tenth behind the Kiwi and only 0.001 seconds ahead of Feeney.
Heimgartner then put together an impressive lap to move into second, just 0.013 seconds behind Payne, giving New Zealand a one-two at the top of the timesheets with less than two minutes remaining.
However, De Pasquale soon broke up the Kiwi pairing, setting a 1:09.077 to move ahead of Payne by 0.074 seconds.
Wood also made a significant improvement in the closing stages, finding three tenths of a second to jump from 14th to fourth, putting all three Kiwis inside the top six.
Feeney then improved to second, pushing Payne down to third, while Heimgartner and Wood eventually finished fourth and sixth.
De Pasquale held on to take provisional pole ahead of Feeney, Payne, Heimgartner, Mostert, Wood, Brown, Randle, Kai Allen and Waters, who will all return for tomorrow’s Top 10 Shootout.
Reigning Bathurst 1000 winner Brodie Kostecki was disappointed to miss the cut by just 0.039 seconds and is set to start Race 31 from 11th. However, his starting position could improve if Brown is found to have allegedly impeded another driver. A penalty or deleted lap time for Brown could see Kostecki promoted into the top ten.
Fellow Finals contender Jack Le Brocq also missed out, finishing 17th in qualifying.
With just 0.299 seconds covering the top ten, there is little separating the drivers heading into tomorrow’s Shootout.
Payne, Heimgartner and Wood will all have a chance to fight for pole position when the Top 10 Shootout gets underway at 3:35pm NZT tomorrow.
Header Image: Walkinshaw TWG Racing
