Waters takes pole in Darwin, SVG 4th

Cam Waters will start on pole for today’s sole Supercars race at the Darwin Triple Crown, having avoided elimination in Q1 by one one-hundredth of a second. The Tickford driver bounced back from his narrow escape to set the fastest time in Qualifying 2 and Qualifying 3, being the only driver to go under 1min 06 sec for the session.

Broc Feeney will start the race from second, while Mark Winterbottom rounds out the top three. Shane van Gisbergen made up for a lack of runtime yesterday to qualify fourth and has fortune on his side, with the top three championship contenders all failing to make the top 10. Brodie Kostecki will start 11th, Chaz Mostert in 17th and Will Brown 19th.

Hot temperatures set the scene for some blistering pace from the outset, with a tight Qualifying 1 threatening a few surprises as Mostert, Matt Payne, and Nick Percat sat precariously in the bottom six in the dying stages. Mostert and Payne were both able to improve to safety, while Percat dropped to 26th and was joined by Macauley Jones, Jack Smith, David Reynolds, Todd Hazelwood and Declan Fraser in the bottom six.

Anton De Pasquale had also been at risk until setting the top run on his final flyer, pipping Andre Heimgartner by 0.0379 seconds. Jack Le Brocq was third, only 0.005 seconds off the Kiwi, with the top seven separated by only one-tenth of a second. Van Gisbergen set the seventh-best time, the gremlins that hampered his car in yesterday’s practices seemingly fixed. Waters scraped through to Q2 as the last of the qualifiers.

Times ramped up in Qualifying 2, with the fastest times once again coming in the final minutes of the session. Waters turned the tables from his Q1 escape to top the leaderboard, becoming the first driver of the weekend to break the 1:05 barrier with a 1:05.9986.

Tim Slade took second off Feeney in the closing stages of the session, leaving the Red Bull driver in third. Van Gisbergen was the sole Kiwi to progress, in eighth.

Championship leader Kostecki could only manage 11th, missing out on the top 10 by 0.02 seconds. He was joined by De Pasquale, who was unable to replicate his Q1 pace to go 12th, and teammate Will Brown, who will start down in 19th.

Payne qualified 14th fastest, one spot ahead of Heimgartner. Le Brocq, Cameron Hill, Mostert, Zane Goddard and James Courtney were the other drivers eliminated.

Waters then went on to better his time in Qualifying 3, going nearly one-tenth faster for a 1:05.9027 mid-way through the session. With teams retreating to the garages early, this time stood and saw the Monster Mustang qualify in top position.

Feeney was one-tenth behind and will start second, while Winterbottom and van Gisbergen lock out the second row. Will Davison qualified fifth, one spot ahead of hometown hope Bryce Fullwood.

Golding, Slade, Scott Pye and Thomas Randle rounded out the top 10.

The first race of the Darwin Triple Crown begins at 5.55 pm and will be shown live on Sky Sport 5.

Race 13 Starting Grid

Header Image: Supercars