Waters tops Payne in Gold Coast opener qualifying

Cam Waters has qualified on the provisional pole for this evening’s Gold Coast 500 opener on the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit, topping Kiwi Matt Payne by just 0.05 seconds.

It continues an impressive run of form for Payne, who provisionally qualifies second on his first race weekend at the track, ahead of championship leader Brodie Kostecki, who was a further 0.018 seconds behind in third.

Thomas Randle progresses to the Top 10 Shootout from fourth, as does Shane van Gisbergen in fifth.

Scott Pye, David Reynolds, Time Slade and Chaz Mostert round out the top nine, while Andre Heimgartner scrapes through in tenth to ensure all three Kiwis will feature in this afternoon’s shootout.

James Courtney was unlucky to finish 11th, only .05 seconds outside the top ten and has Brad Jones Racing’s Bryce Fullwood for company on the sixth row.

Will Brown was one of the most significant casualties of the session and will start the race from the rear of the grid after gear selection issues left him confined to the lane without a representative time set.

Broc Feeney also struggled and will start from 21st, behind Macauley Jones and Todd Hazelwood, while Shell V-Power Racing’s Will Davison and Anton De Pasquale lockout the ninth row.

Pole will be decided in his afternoon’s Top 10 Shootout, which begins at 4.05 pm (NZ time), ahead of Race 25 at 6.45 pm.

Race 25 Starting Grid

Header Image: Supercars