Will Brown has grabbed a stunning maiden pole position for tonight’s opening race of the Armor All Sydney SuperNight, converting the youngster’s credible pace at the venue last weekend.
Red Bull Ampol Racing stars Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen completed the top three at the end of the session, ahead of Will Davison and Brodie Kostecki.
Missing from the pointy end of the field was Anton De Pasquale. After starring in practice, the DJR driver was forced to retire in the early minutes with mechanical dramas. He will start from last on the grid.
Q1
The three-part elimination-style qualifying session kicked off in afternoon sunshine with plenty of discussion about tyres. Namely, whether teams would try to make it through the early stages without touching their stocks of soft tyres, or even perhaps if teams would use soft tyres aplenty in the belief that rain would be a certainty on Sunday.
The strategy games started early, with the likes of James Courtney and Fabian Coulthard skipping the first cycle of laps entirely in order to preserve their rubber. Will Brown led early on a 1:30.817, ahead of teammate Brodie Kostecki, Jack LeBrocq, Nick Percat, and Jamie Whincup. These were rudimentary times, given each had been set on hard tyres and softs were set to come.
Completely missing from action was De Pasquale. After dominating all of last weekend’s sessions, the Shell V-Power Racing driver wasn’t able to complete a single lap due to a transmission issue. There was no attempt to mend the Mustang quickly, with De Pasquale instead over and out immediately. He will start tonight’s race from last place on the grid.
With a few minutes to go, the field returned from pit-lane for a classic chaotic final run at the the clock. Wildcard driver Kurt Kostecki narrowly avoided a huge crash at the crest between turns three and four; having arrived upon the slow line of traffic that had come out of pit-lane. He slammed on the brakes, and swerved into the grass to avoid Thomas Randle.
Randle was subsequently handed a three-place grid penalty for the race.
What came next was a complete overhaul of the qualifying order. After plenty of shuffling, Will Davison topped the session on a 1:29.441, ahead of Bryce Fullwood, Whincup, Cameron Waters, Shane van Gisbergen, Nick Percat, Tim Slade, Chaz Mostert, LeBrocq, and Todd Hazelwood in 10th.
Meanwhile, David Reynolds’ replacement for the remainder of the Luke Youlden was the first of those eliminated in 20th. Scott Pye, Mark Winterbottom, Andre Heimgartner, Coulthard, and De Pasquale were also gone. The biggest story was Brodie Kostecki’s 20th-place result, which was achieved without using a soft tyre; gifting the Erebus driver an extra set.
Q2
The second 10-minute session was rung in with a lightning quick 1:29.150 lap-time from Brown, the fastest lap time that had been set all day. His was the only time set in the early phase, with everyone else doing only cycle laps without recording a lap time.
Again, all the action came in the second half of the session. With a minute and a half to go just two cars had set a time, underlining how much action was still to come.
Brown’s time was eventually edged by teammate Kostecki, via a 1:29.078. Brown survived in second, though. Van Gisbergen, Whincup, Davison, Percat, Slade, Waters, Hazelwood, and LeBrocq completed the top 10 once the dust settled.
Macauley Jones was the best-of-the-rest and first of the eliminated drivers in 11th. Garry Jacobson was impressive in 12th, with Bryce Fullwood, Mostert, James Courtney, Jake Kostecki, Randle, Jack Smith, Zane Goddard, and Kurt Kostecki eliminated. Randle’s penalty dropped him from 17th to 20th, promoting Smith, Goddard, and the WAU wildcard.
Mostert was the session’s biggest casualty. His lackluster time was down to the WAU squad electing to try and re-use the soft tyres they’d used in Q1, seemingly unsuccessfully.
Q3
Brown, looking to do the same dance as he’d done in Q2, was the only car to jump on track at the start of the session. And sure enough, the former TCR champion was able to churn out a quality time of 1:29.039, once again the quickest time of the session to that point.
Once again, it was only in the final few minutes that the last laps would commence (a long enough period that Brown had stopped, gotten out of his car, and began debriefing with his crew while watching the show).
Each of the last 10 (effectively last nine, with Brown spectating) would get two cracks at the timesheets. But, none of them would quite be able to beat the Erebus ace, seeing Brown collect his first ever Supercars pole position.
Whicup was closest, a mere two one-hundredths away, with van Gisbergen another five hundredths back in third. Davison, Brodie Kostecki, Percat, Slade, LeBrocq, Hazelwood, and Waters complete the top 10.
Qualifying: Race 23, Armor All Sydney SuperNight
1. Will Brown
2. Jamie Whincup
3. Shane van Gisbergen
4. Will Davison
5. Brodie Kostecki
6. Nick Percat
7. Tim Slade
8. Jack LeBrocq
9. Todd Hazelwood
10. Cameron Waters
11. Macauley Jones
12. Garry Jacobson
13. Bryce Fullwood
14. Chaz Mostert
15. James Courtney
16. Jake Kostecki
17. Jack Smith
18. Zane Goddard
19. Kurt Kostecki
20: Thomas Randle
21. Luke Youlden
22. Scott Pye
23. Mark Winterbottom
24. Andre Heimgartner
25. Fabian Coulthard
26. Anton De Pasquale
