Kostecki helps Camaro to first ever Gen3 pole

Brodie Kostecki has taken his second career ARMOR ALL Pole Position in a thrilling Thrifty Newcastle 500 Top Ten Shootout.

Kostecki, who paced Friday practice and Saturday morning qualifying, was the only driver into the 1:11s in the Shootout.

The 25-year-old will share the front row with Cam Waters, who was the first Ford Mustang driver home in the one-lap dash.

Waters, who won last year’s ARMOR ALL Pole Award, paced his #6 Monster Mustang to within 0.15s of Kostecki.

“I’ve really enjoyed my time in these new Gen3 cars,” Kostecki said.

“It really comes down to the team effort… they worked through Christmas and New Year’s, they’ve put together an awesome piece.

“It was good to have the track to myself, see the fans out there and put the lap together.”

Kostecki has been the form driver since Friday, having led the times in Practice 3 and ARMOR ALL Qualifying.

“The old cars were planted and stuck to the track — these cars are all over the place,” Kostecki added.

“Maybe a bit of NASCAR background and what-not, a lot of driver training at Norwell.

“Just trying to adapt as quickly as possible, and I feel at home in this thing."

James Golding was first out in his #31 Nulon Camaro, and set a 1:12.2432s.

The times continued to drop, although the margins were tight — Andre Heimgartner’s 1:12.1424s proved just 0.0167s quicker.

Scott Pye was just 0.0167s down on Heimgartner in his #20 Hino Camaro.

Broc Feeney lit up the time sheets in the middle sector and jumped to the top, albeit with a 1:12.0008s.

Cam Waters went just 0.0007s quicker as he paced the first and third sectors to reel off a 1:12.0001s.

David Reynolds (#26 Penrite Mustang) went next, and slotted into third — albeit just 0.0263s down on Waters.

Tim Slade displaced Reynolds in his #400 Nulon Camaro, but his 1:12.0019s — which included the best first sector — was still just down on Waters and Feeney.

To van Gisbergen’s lap, the top four — Waters, Feeney, Slade and Reynolds — were covered by just 0.0263s.

Van Gisbergen locked up at Turn 2, and sacrificed over 0.2s to Waters to the first timing point.

The reigning champion recovered time towards the end of the lap, but ended up fifth — but even then, he was just 0.0420s from top spot.

That left Mostert and Kostecki to chase Waters’ benchmark, and the former’s #25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang seemed to be on the money.

However, Mostert was only good enough for sixth behind van Gisbergen, yet was still just 0.1128s behind former teammate Waters.

Last-man out Kostecki had a 1:12.0001s to chase, and was 0.1s down after the first sector.

From there, the #99 Coca-Cola Camaro came to life, Kostecki setting the quickest third sector of the Shootout to claim pole.

Kostecki was just 0.1520s quicker than Waters — but the seven cars from second to eighth were covered by just 0.1423s.

The first race of the Gen3 era, the 95-lap Race 1, will commence at 3:20pm local time on Saturday.