Mostert takes pole in wet GC600 qualifying 

Chaz Mostert showed his class in difficult wet conditions to claim the Armor All Pole Position for Race 21 at the Vodafone Gold Coast 600.

The slippery track conditions provided a shake up to the grid for this afternoon’s race as drivers were pushed to the limit on the 2.96km circuit.

Mostert set the initial pace with a 1:24s effort but as the session progressed he went on to post a 1:21.54s effort to shoot back to the top of the times.

His time arrived just as the red flags were shown with two and half minutes remaining when Erebus Motorsport’s Dale Wood found the tyre barriers at Turn 3, causing damage to the front of the Holden.

The rain intensified when the session resumed restricting drivers from improving upon their times.

“It was a battle out there and I was very lucky to get a good time,” said Mostert.

“The car was good in the dry and worked well in the wet, but it is very sketchy out there and very easy to make a mistake.”

Early pacesetter Jamie Whincup will join Mostert on the front row despite a scary moment that saw the Triple Eight driver slide into the barriers at Turn 11.

The Shell V-Power Racing Fords struggled with Scott McLaughlin only 12th fastest, while championship leader Fabian Coulthard was four places further back in 16th position.

Coulthard was lucky to avoid the concrete wall when he had a wild spin at Turn 11.

Meanwhile, Brad Jones Racing’s Tim Slade was third fastest ahead of Nissan Motorsport’s Michael Caruso.

Nissan Motorsport and Brad Jones Racing quickly adapted to the conditions with Rick Kelly fifth and Nick Percat sixth.

Shane van Gisbergen, who topped the session early in the running, had to settle for seventh, while the top 10 was completed by Mark Winterbottom (Prodrive), Todd Kelly (Nissan Motorsport) and Lee Holdsworth (Preston Hire Racing).

Craig Lowndes just missed out on the top 10 in 11th position, ahead of Scott Pye, who was the top Mobil 1 HSV Racing runner in 13th spot.

Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport’s Alex Rullo was the only other driver to suffer a spin during the session, when he lost the rear of his Holden at Turn 11.

The field will line up for Race 21 at 1425 local time.

Armor All Qualifying for Race 21: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship Vodafone Castrol Gold Coast 600

1	Supercheap Auto Racing	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:21.5486
2	Red Bull Holden Racing Aust	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	1:21.8209	0.2723
3	Freightliner Racing	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore VF	1:21.8457	0.2971
4	Nissan Motorsport	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	1:22.0260	0.4774
5	Sengled Racing	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1:22.0340	0.4854
6	Boost Mobile	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	1:22.1247	0.5761
7	Red Bull Holden Racing Aust	Shane Van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	1:22.1417	0.5931
8	The Bottle-O Racing Team	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:22.3384	0.7898
9	carsales Racing	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	1:22.4455	0.8969
10	Preston Hire Racing	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore VF	1:22.5950	1.0464
11	TeamVortex	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	1:22.6398	1.0912
12	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:22.6970	1.1484
13	Mobil 1 HSV Racing	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore VF	1:22.8683	1.3197
14	Monster Energy Racing	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:23.1115	1.5629
15	Wilson Security Racing GRM	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	1:23.2770	1.7284
16	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:23.4390	1.8904
17	TEKNO Woodstock Racing	Will Davison	Holden Commodore VF	1:23.5132	1.9646
18	Mobil 1 HSV Racing	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	1:23.5416	1.9930
19	Wilson Security Racing GRM	James Moffat	Holden Commodore VF	1:23.7047	2.1561
20	Team CoolDrive	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore VF	1:23.8023	2.2537
21	Team Harvey Norman	Simona De Silvestro	Nissan Altima	1:23.9108	2.3622
22	MEGA Racing	Jason Bright	Ford Falcon FG/X	1:24.0684	2.5198
23	Erebus Penrite Racing	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore VF	1:24.1889	2.6403
24	Erebus GB Galvanizing Racing	Dale Wood	Holden Commodore VF	1:24.4407	2.8921
25	Repair Management Aust Racing	Alex Rullo	Holden Commodore VF	1:25.3471	3.7985
26	Plus Fitness Racing	Aaren Russell	Holden Commodore VF	1:27.2650	5.7164