Waters takes pole in Townsville, SVG to start last

Cam Waters will start this afternoon’s second race of the Townsville 500 off pole following a tight Top 10 Shootout influenced by a slick track surface that saw competitors struggle for pace.

Such was the difference that Water’s pole-setting time was nearly two seconds slower than Brodie Kostecki’s quickest run in the earlier Timed Qualifying session.

Jack Le Brocq qualified as the first of the Camaros and starts alongside Waters on the front row, with Mustangs filling out the following four positions. Andre Heimgartner was the best of the Kiwis and will start seventh, while Shane van Gisbergen and Matt Payne failed to qualify for the Top 10 Shootout.

Joining Waters, Le Brocq, Kostecki and Heimgartner in the top 10 were Thomas Randle, David Reynolds, Anton de Pasquale, Chaz Mostert, Will Davison and Will Brown.

Brown was the first to run in the Shootout and set a 1:15.2726, some two seconds slower than his earlier run in timed qualifying, complaining of a lack of grip. Davison immediately went on to better this by three-tenths but made similar comments on the surface as his rival.

De Pasquale would then better his teammate’s time to hold the top spot after three runners. Heimgartner was fourth to the track and could only manage a 1:15. 0289, provisionally dropping to third before Randle set the benchmark with a 1:14.6363 to go top.

Darwin race winner Jack Le Brocq then bettered this as the track slowly improved, setting the quickest lap as the sixth runner.

Reynolds would then slot his Mustang into third, behind only Le Brocq and Randle, with just three competitors left to run.

Mostert ran into trouble on his run, damaging his front left at the exit of Turn 2 after making contact with the wall, which forced the Walkinshaw Mustang driver to abort his lap and settle for tenth.

Waters then went on to take provisional pole, bettering Le Brocq by 0.1643 seconds with only Kostecki to run. The Erebus driver would run wide at the exit of Turn 2 and drop time, which he was ultimately unable to make up and dropped him to fourth.

The results of the Top 10 Shootout see Waters on pole and Le Brocq on the front row, with Randle and Reynolds locking out Row 2. Reynolds and De Pasquale make for an all-Mustang third row, ahead of Davison and Heimgartner in seventh and eighth, respectively. Brown and Mostert round out the top 10.

Van Gisbergen will start from the rear of the field in his 500th Supercars race, having locked up into the Turn 11 runoff in his final attempt to set a competitive lap after facing handling issues earlier in the session.

Yesterday’s runner-up Broc Feeney also failed to progress to the Shootout and was knocked out of the top ten as the chequered flag flew in the earlier timed qualifying run. He will start 13th.

Brown was a lucky escape, overcoming a power steering failure to move into tenth on his final run after the Erebus crew worked wonders to return him to the track.

Matt Payne was unlucky eleventh, falling just 0.0123 seconds shy of Brown’s time in hunt of his second-ever Shootout appearance in as many days.

Kostecki bounced back from his Saturday misfortunes to return to provisional pole with the fastest time in qualifying, a 1:12.8387, topping Cam Waters by 0.0868 seconds.

Mostert was third fastest in the timed run, while Reynolds, Le Brocq, Randle, Heimgartner, De Pasquale and De Pasquale were the other drivers to qualify, respectively, making for a top 10 split of six Mustangs and four Camaros.

The 88-lap Race 17 of the Supercars season begins at 4.40 pm and will be shown live on Sky Sport 5.

Race 17 Starting Grid

Header Image: Tickford Racing