Darwin Supercars: McLaughlin takes provisional pole

Like yesterday there was an early flurry of times, McLaughlin initially quickest with a 1m05.848s before being filtered down the order as the likes of Anton De Pasquale, Fabian Coulthard, and Nick Percat improved.

But unlike yesterday there was still time in the track at the end of the session, McLaughlin blasting back to the top with a lap record-breaking 1m05.553s on his final run.

James Courtney made late gains as well, going from outside the Top 10 to second on his final run. That meant star rookie De Pasquale – who had never been to the Darwin circuit before this weekend – was shuffled back to third.

Coulthard and Percat were fourth and fifth fastest respectively thanks to their relatively early times, with Rick Kelly and Jamie Whincup also booking Shootout spots with sixth and seventh.

Garth Tander was eighth quickest, Michael Caruso ninth, while David Reynolds was lucky last to get into the Shootout in 10th.

The man on the bubble was van Gisbergen, the Triple Eight driver opting to not run during the Carrera Cup rubber happy hour at the start of the session, and then only managing the 11th best time when he did go out.

Craig Lowndes was another of the big names to miss the Shootout, the veteran qualifying 14th, while for the second day in a row not a single Tickford car got anywhere near the Top 10, Chaz Mostert the best in 13th.

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	17	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG X	1'05.5538
2	25	James Courtney	Holden Commodore ZB	1'05.7610	0.2072
3	99	Anton de Pasquale	Holden Commodore ZB	1'05.7801	0.2263
4	12	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG X	1'05.7934	0.2396
5	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	1'05.8336	0.2798
6	15	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1'05.8808	0.3270
7	1	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	1'05.8842	0.3304
8	33	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore ZB	1'05.8874	0.3336
9	23	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	1'05.8903	0.3365
10	9	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore ZB	1'05.8918	0.3380
11	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	1'05.8999	0.3461
12	7	Andre Heimgartner	Nissan Altima	1'05.9102	0.3564
13	55	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG X	1'05.9324	0.3786
14	888	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore ZB	1'05.9750	0.4212
15	14	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore ZB	1'05.9878	0.4340
16	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG X	1'06.1110	0.5572
17	78	Simona de Silvestro	Nissan Altima	1'06.1355	0.5817
18	230	Will Davison	Ford Falcon FG X	1'06.1403	0.5865
19	2	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	1'06.1471	0.5933
20	19	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	1'06.1554	0.6016
21	21	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore ZB	1'06.1638	0.6100
22	18	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore ZB	1'06.1690	0.6152
23	34	James Golding	Holden Commodore ZB	1'06.1913	0.6375
24	5	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG X	1'06.2139	0.6601
25	4	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	1'06.4314	0.8776
26	56	Richie Stanaway	Ford Falcon FG X	1'06.4599	0.9061
27	35	Todd Hazelwood	Ford Falcon FG X	1'06.6948	1.1410