Intensifying rain midway through the Boost Mobile Shootout has helped Cam Waters secure a second pole of 2024 while defending champion Brodie Kostecki will start just 15th in his first race of the season after a wild qualifying on Saturday morning.
Waters, who scored pole for the second race of the Melbourne SuperSprint, will share the front row for the inaugural ITM Taupō Super400 with championship leader Will Brown.
The Shootout began in wet conditions, before rain worsened after Brown, who was fourth driver out, set his timed lap.
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By that time, Waters (#6 Monster Energy Ford) was on provisional pole with a 1:24.7415s ahead of Brown (#87 Red Bull Ampol Chevrolet) and local driver Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries Chevrolet), with Tim Slade (#23 PremiAir Nulon Chevrolet) fourth.
From there, Ryan Wood (#2 Mobil 1 Truck Assist Ford), Cameron Hill (#4 Supaglass Chevrolet), Will Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Ford), Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Ford), Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Ford) and Matt Payne (#19 Penrite Ford) were unable to mount a challenge as conditions worsened.
Kostecki looking fierce in Practice | 01:55
Waters took the good luck, having slumped to 16th in the points standings through the first two rounds of the 2024 season.
“It was a pretty wild qualifying, half-dry and half-wet,” said Waters, who claimed his 25th career pole, and second in New Zealand.
“It was full-wet then, and obviously got pretty lucky with it getting wetter throughout the session.
“In saying that, the car was pretty hooked up and felt comfortable straight out the gate. I’ve had a lot of bad luck this year, so I’ll take a bit of good luck then, the team did a great job.”
The 60-lap Race 7 will start at 1:05pm AEST/3:05pm NZST.
QUALIFYING REPORT
Earlier, Matt Payne delighted his home fans with provisional pole in Boost Mobile Qualifying at the ITM Taupō Super400, with Broc Feeney missing a Shootout berth.
Payne, 22, was one of three Kiwis to make Saturday’s Boost Mobile Shootout, along with rookie Ryan Wood (#2 Mobil 1 Truck Assist Ford) and Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries Chevrolet).
The #19 Penrite Ford driver led a quartet of Mustangs, with Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Ford), Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Ford) and Will Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Ford) rounding out the top four ahead of surprise packet Cameron Hill (#4 Supaglass Chevrolet), Wood and championship leader Will Brown (#87 Red Bull Ampol Chevrolet).
Brown’s teammate Feeney #88 Red Bull Ampol Chevrolet), who is just 17 points behind, could only qualify 13th ahead of returning champion Brodie Kostecki (#1 TFH Hire Chevrolet), who suffered an off at Turn 4 en route to 15th.
There were several other major scalps, with David Reynolds’ (#20 TRADIE Beer Chevrolet) 16-consecutive Shootout run ending with 21st. Reynolds was ahead of James Golding (#31 PremiAir Nulon Chevrolet), local hero Richie Stanaway (#26 Penrite Ford) and Nick Percat (#10 Bendix Chevrolet), with the last-start winner 24th and last.
The top 23 drivers were covered by a second, with the top six within 0.3s.
“It was really tough,” said Payne, who claimed his maiden Supercars pole at the last round in Melbourne.
“It was pretty hectic. The track was pretty dicey in some places. Like, on the new surface, you couldn’t really tell if it was dry or not. So, it was tough to sort of pick out the right line to use.
“But, yeah, we got there in the end, managed to do a good time when it mattered.”
Drivers rolled out under overcast skies, and despite passing showers, the entire 15-minute session ran green and on slick tyres.
Mostert ran off piste to the rest of the field and pitted early, with the benchmark time dropping from a 1:34s to a 1:31s in quick time.
From there, drivers turned up the wick as a drying line emerged, with Heimgartner clocking a 1:29.1917s before Payne went quickest with a 1:28.7016s.
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Kostecki bowled a wide at Turn 4 and wiped out a styrofoam board, but recovered to eighth ahead of the final runs. By that time, Brown was on the bubble in 10th, with Payne fastest.
The times continued to improve, with Bryce Fullwood (#14 Middy’s Electrical Chevrolet) turning in a 1:28.6099s before Brown powered to the top with a 1:28.3049s. De Pasquale and Davison both improved to make it a Shell V-Power one-two, with Mostert then splitting the Dick Johnson Racing Fords.
Hill impressed to third, before Payne went fastest of all with a 1:27.9684s, the only 1:27s lap of the session, to secure provisional pole by just 0.0940s over De Pasquale, with Mostert 0.1669s down in third.
Hill and Wood ended up fifth and sixth ahead of Brown, with Cam Waters (#6 Monster Energy Ford), Heimgartner and Tim Slade (#23 PremiAir Nulon Chevrolet) rounding out the top 10.
Thomas Randle (#55 Castrol Ford) and Fullwood ended up 11th and 12th ahead of Feeney, who missed the top 10 for the first time this season.
Source Agencies
