Ipswich Supercars: McLaughlin takes pole despite traffic scare

The DJR Team Penske driver jumped to the top with a 1m08.816s during a flurry of quick laps midway through the session, which put him just over a tenth clear of the field heading into the final runs.

However the timing of his second run proved problematic in terms of traffic. Having successfully navigated a train of slower cars on the run from Turns 2 to 3 to set a fastest first sector, McLaughlin was forced to abort the lap on the run to Turn 4.

Not that he needed to improve. While Craig Lowndes put in a season-best qualifying performance with a 1m08.825s, it wasn’t enough to stop McLaughlin adding a 10th pole to his season tally.

“When I was driving out of the pits I thought this is a really early call,” said McLaughlin.

“I was a bit nervous there coming through the pack. I got through the first straight but the second one was just too sketchy and I backed out of it.

“But we still got pole which I feel lucky for.”

Lowndes ended a run of poor qualifying by grabbing the outside of the front row, while Prodrive Racing’s Chaz Mostert jumped to third right at the flag with a 1m08.900s.

Slade was shuffled back to fourth having sat second behind McLaughlin ahead of the final runs, while Mark Winterbottom’s yo-yo form continued as he beat Rick Kelly to fifth spot on the grid.

Shane van Gisbergen was seventh, Michael Caruso splitting the Red Bull Holden in ninth. Cam Water rounded out the Top 10 behind Jamie Whincup.

Fabian Coulthard endured a tough session, the former points leader just 14th fastest in the #12 Penske Ford.

In terms of the wildcard entries, it was Todd Hazelwood that led the way in his Matt Stone Racing Commodore in 20th. He was ahead of full-timers such as Lee Holdsworth, Tim Blanchard, Todd Kelly, Simona de Silvestro, James Moffat, and Alex Rullo.

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	17	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'08.8167
2	888	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	1'08.8256	0.0089
3	55	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'08.9001	0.0834
4	14	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore VF	1'08.9027	0.0860
5	5	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'08.9144	0.0977
6	15	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1'08.9466	0.1299
7	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	1'08.9859	0.1692
8	23	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	1'08.9946	0.1779
9	88	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.0056	0.1889
10	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'09.0453	0.2286
11	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.0489	0.2322
12	9	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.0969	0.2802
13	56	Jason Bright	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'09.1137	0.2970
14	12	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'09.1519	0.3352
15	19	Will Davison	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.1620	0.3453
16	2	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.2261	0.4094
17	33	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.3141	0.4974
18	99	Dale Wood	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.3231	0.5064
19	22	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.3349	0.5182
20	36	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.3998	0.5831
21	18	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.4061	0.5894
22	21	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.4598	0.6431
23	7	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	1'09.4661	0.6494
24	28	Jack Le Brocq	Nissan Altima	1'09.5630	0.7463
25	31	James Golding	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.5858	0.7691
26	26	Shae Davies	Nissan Altima	1'09.5886	0.7719
27	78	Simona de Silvestro	Nissan Altima	1'09.6683	0.8516
28	34	James Moffat	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.8465	1.0298
29	3	Alex Davison	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.9492	1.1325
30	62	Alex Rullo	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.5631	1.7464