Shane van Gisbergen claimed pole with a new lap record for this afternoons Race 25 at Sandown. The Kiwi narrowly pipped Cam Waters by .013s, with the two locking out the front row ahead of Chaz Mostert and Broc Feeney.
Scott Pye and David Reynolds qualified fifth and sixth respectively, with Will Brown, James Golding, Andre Heimgartner and Brodie Kostecki rounding out the top 10.
Fellow Kiwi Chris Pither will start the event 18th, whilst the championship second-placed driver Anton de Pasquale will start 13th.
Electrical issues plagued yesterdays race winner Will Davison in Q25, which saw him return to the pits with a smoke-filled cabin. The smoke was so intense, in-fact, that Davison was forced to hold his door open as he cruised down the lane to have the issue addressed.
Prior to this Davison had been in second place with minutes remaining in the session, but as the field completed their fastest laps at the conclusion of qualifying he tumbled down the order and will start in 11th.
Race 26 qualifying saw van Gisbergen better this lap record once again, with a 1.07.4394 eclipsing the 1.07.4467 he set in Q25. He managed to better this time once again at the end of the session, but it was not enough to hold off Davison who took top spot with a 1.07.2078, .04 of a second ahead of the Red Bull Racing car.
Quick repairs to the electrical components which caused the fire inside Davison’s car allowed for a smooth transition into Q26, with the Shell V-Power team impressing with the speed of the fix in the short turnaround between sessions.
De Pasquale set the third fastest time, in a grid which replicates the front three finishing result from yesterdays race. Mark Winterbottom will start the event fourth, with contending drivers Mostert and Waters locking out the third row.
Reynolds, Thomas Randle, Feeney and Pye round out the top 10 respectively.
Heimgartner will start 14th and Pither 24th.
Race 25 begins at 3.05pm, with Race 26 following at 6.20pm.
