Scott McLaughlin has scored a 10th Armor All Pole of the season in qualifying for Race 20 at the Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint.

McLaughlin will square off with Shane van Gisbergen on the front row, while Chaz Mostert was a late improver to third on the grid.

The #17 Shell V-Power Racing FGX Falcon was top of the timing screen after each of the field’s three runs through qualifying.

McLaughlin lowered the benchmark from 1:08.5504s to 1:08.4900s, just short of his 12-month-old practice record at Queensland Raceway, with his final flyer.

That was just as well given that van Gisbergen would subsequently clock a 1:08.5382s in the #97 Red Bull Holden Racing Team ZB Commodore.

“Everything’s good; we’re very happy,” said McLaughlin, who also qualified on pole for Race 19 the day prior.

“(The) Car was a bit looser today, it was a bit harder, so we need to work on that but I think we’ve got a really good shot today.”

Van Gisbergen improved six positions relative to his Saturday qualifying effort.

“I think we made some progress over night,” he noted.

“Studied hard and did what we could, so hopefully we can take the fight to them.

“Congrats to them, they got another (pole), but we’re in the fight. Hopefully we can have a good race and stay up there.”

Mostert (#55 Supercheap Auto FGX Falcon) was just 0.0592s slower again, bumping Fabian Coulthard (#12 FGX Falcon) in the second DJR Team Penske entry to the outside of Row 2.

David Reynolds’s #9 Penrite ZB Commodore underwent a shock absorber change before the final run and the 2017 Bathurst 1000 winner went on to qualify fifth, putting him alongside Rick Kelly (#15 Castrol Nissan Altima) on the grid.

Jamie Whincup (#1 ZB Commodore) and Craig Lowndes (#888 Autobarn ZB Commodore) make for an all-Triple Eight fourth row, in front of Michael Caruso (#23 Drive Nissan Altima) and Richie Stanaway (#56 Rabble.Club FGX Falcon).

Garth Tander (#33 Wilson Security ZB Commodore) was 11th for a second day in a row, Mark Winterbottom (#5 The Bottle-O FGX Falcon) 16th, and James Courtney (#25 ZB Commodore) the best of the Mobil 1 Boost Mobile entries in 18th.

Nick Percat completed only three laps on his way to 25th in the #8 Brad Jones Racing ZB Commodore, one position ahead of wildcard Kurt Kostecki (#42 Kostecki Brothers Racing VF Commodore).

Race 20 of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship (65 laps) starts at 1405 local time/AEST.

Results: Supercars Race 20 Qualifying