Gold Coast 600: Whincup on provisional pole, McLaughlin squeaks into shootout

Race 22 pole-sitter and winner Shane Van Gisbergen went straight to the top with a 1:11.627, but before anyone could challenge him, the session was halted with 16:09 left on the clock.

Shae Davies plowed into the outside wall at Turn 11 and could not drive back to the pits. The Erebus Commodore will not be repaired in time to start the race, leaving the field at 25 cars.

When things resumed, Van Gisbergen dropped down the order as Garth Tander shot to the top with a 1:11.008. 

But with eight minutes to go, the Triple Eight trio came back with force, all three dropping down into the 10s. Van Gisbergen at an 1:11.5, Whincup at an 11.5 and Lowndes at an 11.7. 

But the real story is the coveted tenth spot -- the final position that grants a driver access to the pole shootout. As the field warmed up for one last run, Mark Winterbottom sat on the bubble. Tim Slade, James Courtney and Chris Pither were the first ones on the outside looking in.

Winterbottom padded his position, jumping to seventh while the other three failed to crack the top ten. In the final seconds, James Moffat shot up inside the top ten, leaving Michael Caruso with the final transfer spot.

But Scott McLaughlin, who tagged the wall earlier in the session, wasn't quite done yet. He leaped from 18th to 10th, displacing Caruso by 0.032.

At the sharp end of the time sheets, Whincup went quickest with a 1:10.316, demoting Van Gisbergen to 2nd ahead of the shootout.

They were followed by Tander, who has a ten-place grid penalty looming over him. Then David Reynolds, Lowndes, Will Davison, Winterbottom, Chaz Mostert, Moffat, and McLaughlin.

Of note, Fabian Coulthard timed in 18th with the car that was destroyed with a handful of laps to go in yesterday's race -- quite an achievement.