Gold Coast 600: Whincup edges Van Gisbergen in shootout

The session was initially delayed due to a big incident during the Utes race, but once things did get going, it was Scott McLaughlin out first. He put up a sporty 1:11.0298, which the next five drivers could not match.

Craig Lowndes came the closest and despite flirting with the wall out of Turn 11, he went quicker in the third sector. But at the line, he was 0.1136 off of the pole time.

David Reynolds went next and he was ready to throw everything at that time. He nearly walled it out of the chicane, but kept his foot in it and eclipsed McLaughlin with a 1:10.9973.

Garth Tander was already facing a ten-spot grid penalty, which has been made worse when he got called on a kerb hop. His lap -- which would have been good enough for sixth -- was disallowed. He will now roll off 20th on the grid.

"Just got too deep into the chicane," he said afterwards. "That's the way it goes. Bit of work to do this afternoon."

Penultimate runner Shane Van Gisbergen went purple in Sector 2 and took over the top spot with a 1:10.9763, but the only man faster than him in the earlier qualifying session was up next.

Whincup went quickest in both the first and third sector, ending the lap 0.0891 ahead of his teammate. This is is his 72nd career pole and secures a front row lockout for Triple Eight.

"I'm pretty happy with that. To get it right over one lap here is cool."

Reynolds and McLaughlin make up Row 2 and were followed by Lowndes, Chaz Mostert, James Moffat, Mark Winterbottom, Will Davison and Tander (who will start 20th with grid penalty).