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Qualifying report

Sydney Supercars: Percat tops Shootout for pole

Nick Percat topped a wet Top 10 Shootout at Sydney Motorsport Park to take a second career Supercars pole position.

Nick Percat, Brad Jones Racing

Nick Percat, Brad Jones Racing

Mark Horsburgh, Edge Photographics

The Brad Jones Racing driver ran sixth in the single-lap dash, an aggressive approach yielding a 1m43.860s.

That put him well clear of those that had already run, and proved too quick for the likes of qualifying pacesetters Shane van Gisbergen and Andre Heimgartner to run down.

Percat's final margin was four-tenths over van Gisbergen as he secured a second career pole.

"I knew roughly what I had to do," said Percat. "I thought, I think I'm going to do a 43.8s. That was the number in my head.

"I picked the spots where I wanted to position the car to get really good drive. Watching the other guys, I could hear them wheel-spinning a lot. That's where the BJR car was mega, it had such good traction so I could come off the corner well."

A front row start puts van Gisbergen in a good position to seal the 2021 Supercars title later today, particularly given his only remaining rival, teammate Jamie Whincup, will start way back in seventh.

Van Gisbergen only needs to finish 300 points ahead of Whincup to be crowned champion, his lead 349 points going into the race.

David Reynolds was the star of the Shootout, the Kelly Grove Racing driver running first and making up seven spots compared to qualifying to secure third on the grid.

Tim Slade improved two spots to qualify fourth, while Todd Hazelwood went backwards by a couple of spots and will start fifth.

Fabian Coulthard was left to rue small mistakes at Turns 5 and 8 as he dropped from fourth to sixth ahead of Whincup.

Provisional polesitter Heimgartner went the wrong direction in a big way, dropping back to eighth ahead of Cam Waters and Chaz Mostert.

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