Scott McLaughlin took a third career pole position
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 |
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