McLaughlin scores pole for Pukekohe finale

Local hero Scott McLaughlin will line-up from pole position for the fourth and final race of the weekend at the ITM 500 Auckland.

The #33 Volvo set the three fastest times of the 20 minute session to back-up his pole effort from yesterday’s Race 12 session.

McLaughlin ended each of his three runs at the top of the order before leaving his final benchmark at 1:02.99s.

An error from Craig Lowndes that put his Red Bull Holden in the gravel a the hairpin with just a minute remaining failed to upset the late flurry of fast times after Race Control elected against flying the red flags.

Tim Slade made the most of the opportunity, shooting to second ahead of fellow late-improvers Shane van Gisbergen and Mark Winterbottom.

Slade’s final lap proved just 0.06s shy of McLaughlin’s best in a phenomenally tight session that saw 0.58s cover the entire field.

Chaz Mostert’s best was good enough for fifth in the final reckoning ahead of David Reynolds in the third of the FPR Falcons.

The Nissans of Michael Caruso, Todd Kelly and Rick Kelly were seventh, ninth and 10th respectively, split only by Jamie Whincup’s Holden.

Lowndes dropped to 15th over the final minutes; able to keep his time due to the lack of red flag

Race 13 will take place over 200km and decide the winner of the weekend’s Jason Richards Trophy.

Winterbottom now leads the Trophy standings from Courtney and Van Gisbergen after the Tekno Holden driver’s points penalty for contact with Jason Bright in Race 11.

The 25 points had initially only be taken from Van Gisbergen’s championship tally, but have now also been removed from the weekend’s standings.

QUALIFYING: Race 13 – ITM 500 Auckland – Pukekohe Park

Position	Car	Driver	Team	Car	Time	Difference
1	33	Scott McLaughlin	Valvoline Racing GRM	Volvo S60	1:02.9914
2	47	Tim Slade	Supercheap Auto Racing	Holden Commodore VF	1:03.0494	0:00.0580
3	97	Shane Van Gisbergen	Team Tekno VIP Petfoods	Holden Commodore VF	1:03.0586	0:00.0672
4	5	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Pepsi Max Crew	Ford Falcon FG	1:03.0997	0:00.1083
5	6	Chaz Mostert	Ford Pepsi Max Crew	Ford Falcon FG	1:03.1148	0:00.1234
6	55	David Reynolds	The Bottle-O Racing Team	Ford Falcon FG	1:03.1193	0:00.1279
7	36	Michael Caruso	Norton Hornets	Nissan Altima	1:03.1375	0:00.1461
8	1	Jamie Whincup	Red Bull Racing Australia	Holden Commodore VF	1:03.1493	0:00.1579
9	7	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing	Nissan Altima	1:03.2139	0:00.2225
10	15	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing	Nissan Altima	1:03.2188	0:00.2274
11	4	Lee Holdsworth	Erebus Motorsport V8	Mercedes E63 AMG	1:03.2755	0:00.2841
12	222	Nick Percat	Walkinshaw Racing	Holden Commodore VF	1:03.3040	0:00.3126
13	22	James Courtney	Holden Racing Team	Holden Commodore VF	1:03.3073	0:00.3159
14	14	Fabian Coulthard	Lockwood Racing	Holden Commodore VF	1:03.3137	0:00.3223
15	888	Craig Lowndes	Red Bull Racing Australia	Holden Commodore VF	1:03.3203	0:00.3289
16	9	Will Davison	Erebus Motorsport V8	Mercedes E63 AMG	1:03.3594	0:00.3680
17	8	Jason Bright	Team BOC	Holden Commodore VF	1:03.3683	0:00.3769
18	18	Jack Perkins	Team JELD-WEN	Ford Falcon FG	1:03.4329	0:00.4415
19	360	James Moffat	Norton Hornets	Nissan Altima	1:03.4623	0:00.4709
20	16	Scott Pye	Wilson Security Racing	Ford Falcon FG	1:03.5061	0:00.5147
21	34	Robert Dahlgren	Valvoline Racing GRM	Volvo S60	1:03.5469	0:00.5555
22	2	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team	Holden Commodore VF	1:03.5515	0:00.5601
23	21	Dale Wood	Team Advam/GB	Holden Commodore VF	1:03.5695	0:00.5781
24	23	Russell Ingall	Repair Management Aust Racing	Holden Commodore VF	1:03.5744	0:00.5830