Darwin Supercars: McLaughlin, van Gisbergen share poles

There was little between the two Kiwis in both 10-minute sessions, McLaughlin getting the better of his rival in the first to the tune of just 0.05s to grab pole for Race 2.

Van Gisbergen then hit back in fine style in the second session, tucking in behind Fabian Coulthard to get a tow that helped him pip McLaughlin by 0.03s for the Race 3 pole.

For van Gisbergen the strong performance vindicated the decision to change his motor overnight.

"It's awesome. I have to thank the guys, they put in a big effort changing the motor last night, and then [engineer Grant McPherson] going through the set-up," said van Gisbergen.

"We just had to go back to basics. The car was awesome. Right from when I left pitlane we were up the front again."

Team 18 continued its strong showing, Scott Pye qualifying an impressive third, two spots ahead of teammate Mark Winterbottom, for the first race.

Pye dropped back to eighth in the second session after a small mistake on his lap, Winterbottom providing the heroics with a third of his own.

Jamie Whincup didn't trouble the front-runners in either session, the Triple Eight driver facing eighth and seventh place starts in the two races.

Fabian Coulthard, meanwhile, dropped 10 places between the sessions, the Penske driver qualifying sixth for Race 2 and 16th for Race 3.

Qualifying Race 2 results

Cla	#	Driver	Time	Gap	Interval
1	17	Scott McLaughlin	1'06.258
2	97	Shane van Gisbergen	1'06.315	0.056	0.056
3	20	Scott Pye	1'06.364	0.105	0.049
4	6	Cameron Waters	1'06.392	0.133	0.028
5	18	Mark Winterbottom	1'06.405	0.147	0.013
6	12	Fabian Coulthard	1'06.444	0.186	0.038
7	8	Nick Percat	1'06.506	0.247	0.061
8	88	Jamie Whincup	1'06.536	0.278	0.030
9	7	Andre Heimgartner	1'06.544	0.285	0.007
10	44	James Courtney	1'06.589	0.330	0.044
11	5	Lee Holdsworth	1'06.697	0.439	0.108
12	25	Chaz Mostert	1'06.720	0.462	0.022
13	99	Anton De Pasquale	1'06.729	0.470	0.008
14	15	Rick Kelly	1'06.742	0.484	0.013
15	55	Jack Le Brocq	1'06.762	0.503	0.019
16	3	Macauley Jones	1'06.778	0.520	0.016
17	9	David Reynolds	1'06.825	0.566	0.046
18	14	Todd Hazelwood	1'06.828	0.569	0.003
19	2	Bryce Fullwood	1'06.876	0.618	0.048
20	35	Garry Jacobson	1'06.969	0.711	0.092
21	22	Chris Pither	1'07.110	0.852	0.141
22	19	Alex Davison	1'07.293	1.034	0.182
23	34	Zane Goddard	1'07.393	1.134	0.099
24	4	Jack Smith	1'07.430	1.171	0.037
View full results

Qualifying Race 3 results

Cla	#	Driver	Time	Gap	Interval
1	97	Shane van Gisbergen	1'06.289
2	17	Scott McLaughlin	1'06.319	0.030	0.030
3	18	Mark Winterbottom	1'06.322	0.032	0.002
4	8	Nick Percat	1'06.353	0.063	0.030
5	25	Chaz Mostert	1'06.419	0.129	0.066
6	6	Cameron Waters	1'06.435	0.145	0.015
7	88	Jamie Whincup	1'06.447	0.158	0.012
8	20	Scott Pye	1'06.510	0.220	0.062
9	99	Anton De Pasquale	1'06.517	0.227	0.007
10	7	Andre Heimgartner	1'06.528	0.238	0.011
11	5	Lee Holdsworth	1'06.548	0.258	0.019
12	9	David Reynolds	1'06.565	0.275	0.017
13	2	Bryce Fullwood	1'06.575	0.286	0.010
14	44	James Courtney	1'06.639	0.349	0.063
15	55	Jack Le Brocq	1'06.683	0.393	0.043
16	12	Fabian Coulthard	1'06.700	0.410	0.017
17	14	Todd Hazelwood	1'06.706	0.416	0.006
18	35	Garry Jacobson	1'06.730	0.440	0.023
19	19	Alex Davison	1'06.802	0.513	0.072
20	15	Rick Kelly	1'06.823	0.533	0.020
21	22	Chris Pither	1'06.843	0.554	0.020
22	34	Zane Goddard	1'06.858	0.568	0.014
23	3	Macauley Jones	1'06.947	0.657	0.088
24	4	Jack Smith	1'07.486	1.196	0.539
View full results