Ryan Wood secured pole position for the first race of the Supercars finals at the Gold Coast, while fellow New Zealander Matt Payne will start third.
Qualifying:
In the first stage of qualifying, only the 18 fastest drivers advanced to the second round. The top ten from round two then competed in the Top 10 Shootout.
Broc Feeney had the first indicative lap time with a 1.08.965, setting the pace that would be needed to progress through the session.
Payne soon got ahead of him to take the session lead with a 1:08.929, narrowly surpassing Feeney.
Jaxon Evans and Andre Heimgartner were the only other Kiwis to make the top 18 before pitting mid-session, sitting in 14th and 16th, respectively. Richie Stanaway was just behind them in 20th.
The Walkinshaw drivers didn’t make it out in the first half of the session, banking on getting a good enough time at the end and having a tyre advantage later on.
At the end of the session, the times were close as Feeney took back the lead, and Waters got super close but finished just 0.001s behind him.
Ryan Wood qualified in the top group after finishing in 5th, while Heimgartner also made it into qualifying 2 in 14th.
In his only fast lap of the session, Chaz Mostert rose to the lead, but was pipped by Payne right at the end, who earned purple sectors 2 and 3 to earn at 1:08.404 and take the session lead.
Both Stanaway and Evans didn’t make it into the next session, finishing in their grid positions of 19th and 21st respectively.
Session 2:
Payne got a kerb strike during his first flying lap, as Mostert took the early session lead with a 1:08.881.
Wood also showed early promise by getting into third, while Heimgartner also sat in the top 10 before pitting.
The team of 18 cars stayed out while everyone else got new tyres, getting David Reynolds up into the lead and Anton De Pasquale into fourth.
Ryan Wood got to the top with a 1:08.509 before taking a shortcut and losing the chance for one more lap.
With his last lap, Payne finished the session on top with a quick 1:08.286 to earn the right to go last in the top ten shootout.
In the last seconds of the session, Brodie Kostecki ran hard into the wall after damaging himself earlier in the session, initiating a red flag as he destroyed the front of his car, which will not be repaired in time for the race tonight.
Heimgartner, unfortunately, just missed out on the shoot-out, ending the session in 13th, which would be his starting position in the race.
Along with Kostecki, Kai Allen and Thomas Randle were the only finals drivers in contention for the championship title to not make it into the top 10 shootout.
Top Ten Shootout:
De Pasquale was the first out, attacking the track to set the first benchmark time of 1:10.130.
Next out was Feeney, looking to get his 15th pole of the season, earning three purple sectors for a 1:09.201, nearly one second ahead of De Pasquale.
James Courtney was the first driver not in the final 10 to go out, going slightly safer around the track than the previous drivers to earn a 1:09.438 and sit in 2nd position.
In his 12th straight shootout at the Gold Coast, Waters finished only 0.214s behind Feeney in the lead by earning a 1:09.415 lap time.
James Golding was the first driver to take the fastest sector from Feeney, finishing just behind him with a 1:09.272 to sit in second position.
Brown showed his speed by earning the fastest first sector by a large margin, before spinning out and hitting the wall twice, bringing the end of what was potentially a pole-worthy lap.
When the track got cleared, Reynolds was the last driver not in the final 10 in the shootout and made it through with a 1:09.551 to take 5th.
Wood came out threatening Feeneys’ time, and after earning purple in the last two sectors, he took the lead with a 1:09.158, securing at least a top 3 finish.
Coming out hard, Mostert hit the wall with his right rear coming out of turn 10, but still finished with a 1:09.271 to slot into 3rd.
With new rear tyres, Payne went slower than expected in the first sector before earning a purple in the second one, ultimately finishing in 3rd with a 1:09.211.
This meant Ryan Wood earned the pole position for the first race at the Gold Coast, which will start at 6:15pm NZST.
