Winton Supercars: McLaughlin fires to third consecutive pole

The Red Bull Commodores looked to have got the best of the first run, Shane van Gisbergen going fastest with a 1m19.444s just after the five minute mark, before immediately being replaced by teammate Jamie Whincup, who went top with a 1m19.421s.

But McLaughlin made light work of the Triple Eight Commodores when he strung his first serious lap together several seconds later, a 1m19.072s putting the Saturday race winner well clear of the field.

That wound up being there Kiwi’s best time, and good enough for a very comfortable pole position.

“The car is fantastic,” said McLaughlin. “The track kind of went off at the end there, but I got a really good lap; it was our best lap of the weekend, it’s nice when you do it at the most important time.”

Van Gisbergen did look to be a late threat to pole on his final run, going purple in the first sector and green in the second. But he lost time in the final sector and, like Whincup and McLaughlin ahead of him, failed to improve.

Cam Waters was fourth quickest in the Prodrive Ford, edging out McLaughlin’s teammate Fabian Coulthard and Tekno Commodore driver Will Davison, all three setting their best time on their first runs.

Lee Holdsworth was the best of those to improve on their second run, the Team 18 driver slotting into an impressive seventh with a 1m19.580s.

Mark Winterbottom was eighth, Tim Slade the best of the Brad Jones Racing Commodores in ninth, and Garry Rogers Motorsport driver Garth Tander was 10th.

Rick Kelly was the top Nissan in 11th, while Chaz Mostert struggled to just 17th spot.

Macauley Jones was the best of the wildcard entries in 19th, despite hitting traffic on his final run. He finished ahead of high-profile main game regulars such as James Moffat, James Courtney, and Craig Lowndes, who was just 26th fastest.

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	17	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'19.0721
2	88	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	1'19.4213	0.3492
3	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	1'19.4446	0.3725
4	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'19.4961	0.4240
5	12	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'19.4963	0.4242
6	19	Will Davison	Holden Commodore VF	1'19.5373	0.4652
7	18	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore VF	1'19.5801	0.5080
8	5	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'19.6087	0.5366
9	14	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore VF	1'19.6123	0.5402
10	33	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	1'19.6296	0.5575
11	15	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1'19.6810	0.6089
12	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	1'19.6911	0.6190
13	9	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore VF	1'19.7122	0.6401
14	7	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	1'19.7419	0.6698
15	23	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	1'19.8003	0.7282
16	56	Jason Bright	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'19.8375	0.7654
17	55	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'19.8671	0.7950
18	21	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore VF	1'19.9367	0.8646
19	4	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore VF	1'19.9396	0.8675
20	34	James Moffat	Holden Commodore VF	1'20.0375	0.9654
21	22	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	1'20.0416	0.9695
22	26	Shae Davies	Nissan Altima	1'20.1168	1.0447
23	31	James Golding	Holden Commodore VF	1'20.1461	1.0740
24	78	Simona de Silvestro	Nissan Altima	1'20.1572	1.0851
25	99	Dale Wood	Holden Commodore VF	1'20.2289	1.1568
26	888	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	1'20.2867	1.2146
27	3	Taz Douglas	Holden Commodore VF	1'20.4380	1.3659
28	2	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore VF	1'20.6058	1.5337
29	62	Alex Rullo	Holden Commodore VF	1'20.8317	1.7596