Whincup on provisional pole for Race 16, Mostert 12th

Jamie Whincup has provisionally qualified on pole position for Repco Supercars Championship Race 16 at the NTI Townsville 500 as Chaz Mostert missed the Top 10 Shootout again.

Whincup needed only one flyer to set the fastest lap of the 15-minute session, a 1:12.0197s, while Red Bull Ampol Racing team-mate Shane van Gisbergen ended up second at only 0.0058s slower.

With 10 drivers having contested the Shootout held on the day prior, tyre stock and thus run plans varied up and down pit lane.

Andre Heimgartner (#7 Ned Mustang) was fastest after the initial flyers with a 1:12.6520s before Nick Percat (#8 R&J Batteries ZB Commodore), one of those in Saturday’s one-lap dash, went quickest with a 1:12.4905s in the seventh minute.

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Percat was quickly usurped by both of the Shell V-Power Racing Team drivers, Will Davison (#17 Mustang) fastest of those on a 1:12.3517s, before van Gisbergen (#97 ZB Commodore) clocked a 1:12.2109s on his first serious effort.

Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang) subsequently set a 1:12.1645s and then Whincup (#88 ZB Commodore) a 1:12.0197s to be top two ahead of the final runs.

Van Gisbergen then crept up a spot with a 1:12.0255s while Waters ended up third having made no improvement on his last effort.

“Certainly happy, we made a little gain with the car, I got a clean lap in myself which I didn’t do yesterday,” said Whincup.

“I got a bit of a tow off James Courtney so we were pretty confident we weren’t going to go faster, so sat out the last run.”

Erebus Motorsport’s Will Brown (#9 Pedders ZB Commodore) is provisionally fourth on the grid after clocking a 1:12.2392s and Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang) took fifth with a 1:12.2505s.

David Reynolds (#26 Penrite Mustang) bumped Mostert out of the top 10 after the chequered flag when he went up nine positions to sixth on a 1:12.2727s.

Percat relegated the 2014 Bathurst 1000 winner another position when he rescued a berth in the Shootout with a 1:12.3349s, climbing seven positions from 14th.

Rounding out the top 10 were Davison, who rubbed the wall at Turn 3 on his final run, from Todd Hazelwood (#14 Pizza Hut ZB Commodore) and Tim Slade (#3 CoolDrive Mustang).

Macauley Jones (#96 Coca-Cola ZB Commodore) was first on the outside thanks to the exploits of Percat, one of his team-mates at Brad Jones Racing, while Mostert is set to start 12th in the #25 Mobil 1 Appliances Online ZB Commodore after qualifying 17th the day prior.

The Top 10 Shootout is due to get underway at 12:05 local time/AEST.

Results: Qualifying for Race 16, NTI Townsville 500

Pos	Num	Team/Sponsor	Driver	Car	Fastest lap	Split
1	88	Red Bull Ampol Racing Team	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.0197
2	97	Red Bull Ampol Racing Team	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.0255	0:00.0058
3	6	Monster Energy Racing	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	1:12.1645	0:00.1448
4	9	Erebus Pedders Racing	William Brown	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.2392	0:00.2195
5	11	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Anton De Pasquale	Ford Mustang GT	1:12.2505	0:00.2308
6	26	Penrite Racing	David Reynolds	Ford Mustang GT	1:12.2727	0:00.2530
7	8	R&J Batteries	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.3349	0:00.3152
8	17	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	1:12.3517	0:00.3320
9	14	Pizza Hut	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.3639	0:00.3442
10	3	CoolDrive Racing	Tim Slade	Ford Mustang GT	1:12.3733	0:00.3536
11	96	Coca-Cola Racing	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.4282	0:00.4085
12	25	Mobil 1 Appliances Online	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.4468	0:00.4271
13	2	Mobil 1 Middy’s Racing	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.4560	0:00.4363
14	20	DEWALT Racing	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.4630	0:00.4433
15	5	Truck Assist Racing	Jack Le Brocq	Ford Mustang GT	1:12.5174	0:00.4977
16	99	Erebus Boost Mobile Racing	Brodie Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.5635	0:00.5438
17	44	Boost Mobile Racing	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	1:12.6329	0:00.6132
18	7	NED Whisky Racing	Andre Heimgartner	Ford Mustang GT	1:12.6520	0:00.6323
19	35	Yellow Cover Racing	Zane Goddard	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.6758	0:00.6561
20	34	UNIT Racing	Jake Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.7274	0:00.7077
21	18	IRWIN Racing	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.7277	0:00.7080
22	19	Local Legends	Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore ZB	1:12.9784	0:00.9587
23	22	Team SYDNEY	Garry Jacobson	Holden Commodore ZB	1:13.0671	0:01.0474
24	4	SCT Logistics	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	1:13.2612	0:01.2415