Whilst tonight’s Adelaide 500 qualifying session doesn’t determine who starts on pole for Race 33 tomorrow, it does set the grid from positions 11 through 25.
It’ll be unlucky 25 for championship winner Shane van Gisbergen, a difficult run seeing a lap time deleted early for a kerb strike and his final laps jeopardised by an off-track excursion, resulting in him start from the rear of the field.
The Kiwi had his first time invalidated early in the session before he returned to the lane to have another crack as the 15-minute timer had trickled down to four.
He looked set to be the first driver into the 1min 18sec range, a purple first sector and a green middle indicating he was well and truly in the hunt for a top 10 spot.
It all came unstuck at the final corner, however, the Kiwi out-braking himself and running off onto the grass on the entry of the pit straight. With just one minute remaining, not only did this ruin his previous time it also meant he had no speed to begin the next.
The timer struck zero midway through his final flyer, van Gisbergen unable to make up the time lost from the slow start to the lap.
It proved a miserable session for Red Bull Ampol Racing, Broc Feeney also finishing a lowly 17th.
There’s some respite for New Zealand fans, however, Andre Heimgartner the sole Kiwi to make it to tomorrow’s shootout.
It appeared Ford were going to rain on Holden’s farewell parade, the top three all racing for the manufacturer after the timer had struck zero. It took some late magic from Mostert to deny this, a 1min 18.676sec record enough to take top spot.
Scott Pye also got in on the act, putting his Commodore into third with Anton de Pasquale separating the pair.
James Courtney and Cameron Waters were the other two drivers to go under the 1min 19sec mark, David Reynolds the first driver in the 1min 19s in sixth overall.
James Golding continued his impressive qualifying pace from the Gold Coast to also make the shootout, pipping Heimgartner for seventh ahead of Todd Hazlewood and Thomas Randle respectively.
The Top 10 Shootout begins at 3.05pm tomorrow follow by Race 33 at 5.45pm.
Qualifying Top 10
| Place | Driver |
| 1st | Chaz Mostert |
| 2nd | Anton de Pasquale |
| 3rd | Scott Pye |
| 4th | James Courtney |
| 5th | Cameron Waters |
| 6th | David Reynolds |
| 7th | James Golding |
| 8th | Andre Heimgartner |
| 9th | Todd Hazlewood |
| 10th | Thomas Randle |
