Newcastle Supercars: Van Gisbergen leads all-Red Bull front-row

Fabian Coulthard set the pace on the first runs, his 1m10.769s leaving him ahead of the two title contenders. There was almost nothing between the top three, however, with Shane van Gisbergen 0.001s off Coulthard despite a lock-up on his lap, and McLaughlin, who brushed the wall, just 0.002s further back.

The middle phase of the 20-minute session saw the contenders edge away from the field, McLaughlin taking over top spot with a 1m10.714s only to be immediately topped by van Gisbergen's 1m10.643s.

With neither of the contenders improving on their final run, that lap proved good enough to secure a crucial pole for van Gisbergen. McLaughlin, however, was trumped at the flag by Whincup, the Red Bull Holden driver one of the few to make a meaningful gain on the third run.

“There’s definitely a lot of pressure, but the car was awesome, the guys did a great job," said van Gisbergen.

“It’s step one, the race is where it counts. But it’s the perfect spot so I’m stoked.”

McLaughlin added: “That was tough. I hit the wall a number of times just trying to get the most out of it.

“It was a lot harder to drive today than yesterday, I think we made some changes that weren’t right.

“Yesterday we’d hit [the inside kerb at Turn 1] and it’d be just like a little speed hump, but today it flies a little bit too long and I end up in the wall.

“After the last one I think I’d bent the car a little bit.

“But we’re there, we’re not far away, it just wasn’t quite enough for pole.”

Coulthard's early lap was good enough for fourth, while Lee Holdsworth was the surprise package of the session with the fifth quickest time.

Anton De Pasquale edged Erebus teammate David Reynolds in sixth and seventh, ahead of late improvers James Courtney and Craig Lowndes.

Nick Percat round out the Top 10, with Rick Kelly the best of the Nissan's in 11th.

There wasn't a single Tickford Ford near the pointy end of the field, Cam Waters the best of the Falcons way down in 16th.

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	1'10.6430
2	1	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	1'10.6597	0.0167
3	17	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG X	1'10.7142	0.0712
4	12	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG X	1'10.7693	0.1263
5	18	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore ZB	1'10.7693	0.1263
6	99	Anton De Pasquale	Holden Commodore ZB	1'10.7912	0.1482
7	9	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore ZB	1'10.7951	0.1521
8	25	James Courtney	Holden Commodore ZB	1'10.8657	0.2227
9	888	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore ZB	1'10.9953	0.3523
10	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	1'11.0437	0.4007
11	15	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1'11.0613	0.4183
12	2	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	1'11.0776	0.4346
13	21	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore ZB	1'11.0836	0.4406
14	14	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore ZB	1'11.1472	0.5042
15	19	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	1'11.1898	0.5468
16	100	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG X	1'11.2328	0.5898
17	55	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG X	1'11.2607	0.6177
18	35	Todd Hazelwood	Ford Falcon FG X	1'11.2628	0.6198
19	78	Simona de Silvestro	Nissan Altima	1'11.2810	0.6380
20	23	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	1'11.3061	0.6631
21	34	James Golding	Holden Commodore ZB	1'11.3536	0.7106
22	5	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG X	1'11.3835	0.7405
23	33	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore ZB	1'11.3843	0.7413
24	230	Will Davison	Ford Falcon FG X	1'11.4685	0.8255
25	56	Richie Stanaway	Ford Falcon FG X	1'11.4809	0.8379
26	7	Andre Heimgartner	Nissan Altima	1'11.4826	0.8396