Triple Eight speedster Will Brown will look to defend his Supercars championship lead from pole in Sunday’s Sandown 500 after setting the fastest qualifying lap in slippery conditions.
A tricky wet-dry track greeted the grid for the top-10 shootout after rain, wind and hail hit the raceway in southeast Melbourne earlier on Saturday.
Brown drove an error-free lap to finish more than six hundredths of a second faster than Tickford’s Cam Waters, securing back-to-back poles for the endurance season opener.
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“I knew it’d just be who didn’t stuff up out there, so I was trying not to screw it up,” he said.
Despite his dominance, it’s Brown’s first pole since race one of the season.
“We’ve got podiums, but we really wanted to get another pole position and try win this weekend. So great start, absolutely stoked,” he added.
Brown’s lead at the top of the standings has eroded to 81 points after embarking on a 10-race winless run since Taupo in April.
Tight on his tail is Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert, who will start in sixth after struggling to get warmth through his tyres.
Mostert’s teammate Ryan Wood lost control after hitting water on turn seven. The Sandown rookie ended up in the gravel, eventually hobbling over the finish with the slowest time of the shootout.
Birthday boy Anton De Pasquale will start in third. He recovered to set a decent pace after his attempt was compromised before it began when he hit a puddle and lost his rear end towards the back of his warm-up lap.
Reigning series champion Brodie Kostecki claimed the fourth-fastest time – his third-best result in a lean season marred by a dispute with his team Erebus.
Broc Feeney, who trails teammate Brown by 198 points, will start in fifth – the same position he won last year’s Sandown 500 from.
Richie Stanaway, who is without a seat next year after Grove Racing signed Super2 prodigy Kai Allen in his place, will look to impress potential suitors from seventh on the grid.
The 161-lap race around the Sandown circuit gets underway at 2.05pm local time on Sunday.
Top 10 Shootout results
1. Will Brown (Triple Eight Race Engineering) 1:10.254
2. Cam Waters (Tickford Racing) +0.064s
3. Anton De Pasquale (Dick Johnson Racing) +0.101s
4. Brodie Kostecki (Erebus Motorsport) +0.276s
5. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight Race Engineering) +0.398s
6. Chaz Mostert (Walkinshaw Andretti United) +0.525s
7. Richie Stanaway (Grove Racing) +0.674s
8. Andre Heimgartner (Brad Jones Racing) +0.863s
9. Matt Payne (Grove Racing) +1.413s
10. Ryan Wood (Walkinshaw Andretti United) +10.656s