Young gun Scott McLaughlin nabbed pole by just 0.03sec and earns himself $10,000 in the process at the Sydney NRMA 500.
Before the session, the Volvo driver had recorded nine pole positions for the season, while champion elect Jamie Whincup sat on 10. If the two tied, ARMOR ALL would also award McLaughlin the prize money today.
Spots of rain threatened during his warm up lap, but McLaughlin created some magic with his 1min28.313 lap around the 3.42km circuit.
From there he could only wait through the following qualifying runs – which included some of the best in the business with Garth Tander, Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen ahead. All previous race winners on the savage Sydney street track and all showing tremendous speed this weekend.
McLaughlin sat through seven laps – two aborted due to kerb hops with David Reynolds and Whincup unexpectedly not recording a fast lap.
The uncharacteristic error for the Champion elect was a huge relief for McLaughiln – but Tander came breathtakingly close, just 0.03sec away.
Van Gisbergen also pushed the limits but could only manage third behind the Holden Racing Team Commodore, leaving McLaughlin in the box seat and awarded the ARMOR ALL $1000 for today’s pole and $10,000 for the year’s effort.
“I’m so pumped, it was awesome – we’ve got a race to go yet but to equal Jamie, the champ, is great,” McLaughlin said.
Tander starts alongside, with van Gisbergen and James Courtney on the second row, and Mark Winterbottom, Rick Kelly, Scott Pye, Chaz Mostert, Reynolds and Whincup filling out the top 10.
Click here for full Top 10 Shootout results.
Click here for full qualifying results.
The year’s final race, the 250km run around the streets of Sydney, kicks off at 3.40pm local time.
