De Pasquale, SVG split Thursday Melbourne poles

Anton De Pasquale and Shane van Gisbergen have shared the qualifying spoils on Thursday at the Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint.

De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang) powered to ARMOR ALL Pole Position for Thursday’s Race 3, before van Gisbergen (#97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) scored Race 4 pole.

It was a particularly impressive performance by van Gisbergen, who crashed out of Practice 1 and missed Practice 2.

Four different drivers have taken the four poles in 2023 so far, with Brodie Kostecki and David Reynolds sharing the spoils at the Thrifty Newcastle 500.

Tim Slade, meanwhile, missed both qualifying sessions as PremiAir Racing continued to repair the #23 Nulon Camaro after his Practice 1 crash.

Erebus Motorsport Chevrolets will launch from second for both races, with Kostecki (Race 3) and Will Brown (Race 4) scoring front row starts.

Points leader Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Mustang) will start fourth on Thursday alongside van Gisbergen, but slumped to 10th for Race 4.

The two 15-minute sessions were ran on different tyre compounds — Race 3 qualifying on Dunlop’s Hard tyre, and Race 4 on the Super Soft.

The Race 3 qualifying session featured a number of errors; notably, Broc Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) locked up at Turn 13, with Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries Camaro) running off at Turn 3.

Van Gisbergen also clouted the wall at the final corner, but still managed to qualify third despite brushing the concrete.

Mark Winterbottom (#18 DEWALT Camaro) qualified 17th for Thursday’s race after hitting the wall at Turn 5, with his Chevrolet picking up wheel damage.

Will Davison and De Pasquale formed a Shell V-Power Mustang one-two at the end of the first runs on a 1:50.0632s and 1:50.0670s respectively.

Winterbottom was fourth, but clattered the Turn 5 wall, damaged his car and ended up 17th.

James Courtney (#5 Snowy River Caravans Mustang) went to the top early on the second runs on a 1:50.0303s.

Tickford Racing teammate Cam Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang) jumped up with a 1:49.5247s, before Kostecki clocked a 1:49.3568s.

De Pasquale turned in a 1:49.3167s just before the chequered flag, with van Gisbergen moving to third on a 1:49.3883s ahead of Mostert.

Waters, Brown, Jack Le Brocq (#34 Truck Assist Camaro), Feeney, Matt Payne (#19 Penrite Mustang), and Nick Percat (#2 Mobil 1 NTI Mustang) rounded out the top 10. Davison ended up 15th.

Van Gisbergen’s first Super Soft running came in Race 4 qualifying, and he ended up taking a 46th career pole.

Brown’s 1:47.4258s proved the benchmark at the end of the first runs, with van Gisbergen, Mostert and Waters just behind.

Waters bowled a wide at Turn 3 and still managed a 1:47.6918s despite a slide through Turn 8.

Feeney launched to provisional pole with a 1:47.3326s before Brown (1:47.2733s) and Kostecki (1:47.3677s) set their personal bests.

The chequered flag flew, and van Gisbergen spoiled Erebus’ party with a 1:47.2537s, with Winterbottom rebounding to fifth.

Reynolds (#26 Penrite Mustang) was first of the Fords in sixth, with Mustangs filling positions six through 12.

Waters was seventh ahead of Davison and Courtney, with Mostert surviving a scrape at Turn 5 to qualify 10th.

Friday’s sprint will be Mostert’s 300th career start, some 10 years after his full-time debut.

Macauley Jones (#96 Pizza Hut Camaro) qualified 21st for Race 4, which will be his 150th race start.

Thursday’s 19-lap Race 3 will commence at 5:45pm local time.