Wet qualifying doesn’t stop Scott McLaughlin at Bathurst

Scott McLaughlin has secured provisional pole position for the Supercars Championship Bathurst 1000 race and will be the last to roll out in tomorrow’s Top Ten Shootout after going quickest in a wet qualifying session at Mount Panorama.

Capitalising on the record breaking speed of the #17 DJR Team Penske car over the weekend, the defending series champion was able to battle the elements and go quickest in the damp 40 minute session.

Driving rain started to hit the circuit in the lead up to qualifying, giving teams and drivers no choice other than to start the session on the wet compound Dunlop tyres in the first wet running of the weekend.

The first half of the session netted a handful of slow laps as the field slipped around in the consistently wet conditions, Chaz Mostert leading the way with a best lap just under a 2:30, over a second clear of his rivals in the Tickford Racing machine.

Thursday and Friday practice fast man McLaughlin sat in second, putting the DJR Team Penske Mustang up in the top mix as his fellow Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen kept sliding off the road on his hot laps, not completing a strong lap in the Triple Eight #97 car.

Nick Percat was able to get just behind McLaughlin in the Brad Jones Racing Holden Commodore, being within two-tenths of the championship leader as Scott Pye put himself between Percat and van Gisbergen in his Walkinshaw Andretti United entry.

As the countdown clock went under 15 minutes, McLaughlin moved himself to the top of the order from Mostert, continuing the Ford fight for the provisional pole position. Mostert’s team-mate Cam Waters was able to hit the track with just over ten minutes left after being sidelined with a crank angle sensor issue at the start of the session.

The rain eased in the final quarter of the session as the order started to shuffle in the marginally drier conditions, McLaughlin still leading the way from Mostert with the Tickford-prepared Mustang of Davison in third, followed by Pye and the BJR duo of Tim Slade and Nick Percat.

With five minutes remaining, Jamie Whincup could only manage 20th in the #888 car, unable to produce a good lap time despite the car being repaired after a crash in the day’s earlier practice session. 2017 champion and 2018 pole sitter David Reynolds struggled to get away from 22nd spot in the dying moments, sitting well outside of the top ten in the Erebus Motorsport #9.

Rick Kelly jumped up to fourth late in the session in his Kelly Racing Nissan Altima, just over two seconds down on McLaughlin while Triple Eight’s van Gisbergen and Whincup were both able to squeeze into the top ten as the clock neared zero.

As the chequered flag started to fly, a quicker circuit meant the times continually changed while the field completed their final laps, scrambling the final order for the top ten ahead of tomorrow’s shootout.

McLaughlin was able to take provisional pole from Mostert while van Gisbergen got up to third at the end of the session. Davison eventually held on to fourth with Slade in fifth, just ahead of team-mate Percat in sixth. Whincup was able to buy a ticket to the shootout thanks to a fast late lap for seventh, followed by Waters who overcame the earlier delays. Mark Winterbottom’s Team 18 entry and the #99 Erebus of Anton de Pasquale rounded out the top ten.

Missing out on the top ten, Rick Kelly was the first on the bubble, just ahead of Richie Stanaway who had been inside the top ten earlier for Garry Rogers Motorsport. A quick first sector for Todd Hazelwood didn’t net the Matt Stone Racing driver a good end result, only managing 15th, one spot ahead of Fabian Coulthard in the second DJR Team Penske entry.

Last year’s polesitter David Reynolds will have a fight on his hands come Sunday morning as he failed to improve late in the session, starting this year’s Great Race back in 22nd. Only the #21 of Macauley Jones (Brad Jones Racing), Brodie Kostecki (#56, Kostecki Brothers Racing), Alexander Rossi (#27, Walkinshaw Andretti United) and Jack Le Brocq (#19, Tekno Autosports) were behind him.

Practice six will kick off at 09:40 local time tomorrow and practice seven will follow at 12:10, all building up to the Top Ten Shootout at 17:05.