Newcastle Supercars: McLaughlin snags pole for Race 25, Whincup fifth

The 24-year-old took pole position in an incredibly tight qualifying session Saturday while title rival Jamie Whincup clocked in fifth.

Qualifying for Race 25 began with a big moment for Whincup, who locked up the rear brakes on the way down into Turn 1. He was far from the only driver to find the edge and cross over it during the 20-minute session. Mark Winterbottom, Fabian Coulthard, David Rynolds and even McLaughlin found themselves making missteps during qualifying.

After five minutes, it was Michael Caruso out front with a 1:09.9651, but he was later eclipsed by Shane van Gisbergen at a 1:09.9483.

In the pits, an incident nearly broke out as Reynolds backed out of his stall and into the path of Chaz Mostert. The latter was forced to get on the brakes hard to avoid a collision.

McLaughlin's qualifying session didn't go very smoothly either. While preparing to enter the hairpin, he was forced to the inside of the slower car of Tim Blanchard, thus causing him to miss the apex and run wide. Blanchard was then investigated for the impeding the DJR Team Penske driver's lap.

McLaughlin made another go at it with four minutes and 30 seconds to play, rocketing to the top of the board with a 1:09.9065. Whincup attempted to respond and although he got within a tenth of the pole time, his lap (1:09.9988) was only good enough for fourth.

He was then knocked down another position to the inside of Row 5 by Reynolds, who launched himself from eighth to the outside of the front row with a 1:09.9163.

Van Gisbergen and Caruso will instead share the second row on the grid. Rick Kelly will join Whincup on Row 3, completing the top six. Will Davison, Fabian Coulthard, James Courtney, and Mostert rounded out the top ten.

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time	km/h
1	17	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'09.9065	133.893
2	9	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.9163	133.874
3	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.9483	133.813
4	23	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	1'09.9651	133.780
5	88	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.9988	133.716
6	15	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1'10.0306	133.655
7	19	Will Davison	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.0485	133.621
8	12	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG/X	1'10.0839	133.554
9	22	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.2208	133.293
10	55	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'10.2222	133.291
11	5	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'10.2357	133.265
12	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.2764	133.188
13	34	James Moffat	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.2778	133.185
14	7	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	1'10.2900	133.162
15	14	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.3398	133.068
16	33	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.3637	133.023
17	2	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.4097	132.936
18	18	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.4300	132.897
19	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'10.4544	132.851
20	888	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.5014	132.763
21	99	Dale Wood	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.5039	132.758
22	78	Simona de Silvestro	Nissan Altima	1'10.6040	132.570
23	3	Aaren Russell	Holden Commodore VF	1'10.9527	131.918
24	21	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore VF	1'11.0797	131.683
25	56	Jason Bright	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'11.1154	131.617
26	62	Taz Douglas	Holden Commodore VF	1'11.2466	131.374