Percat scores second career pole in Sydney
21 Nov 2021
Nick Percat has scored his second career ARMOR ALL Pole Position in a rain-affected shootout at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Percat was sixth man out in the one-lap dash, and managed to secure pole for the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight final despite sliding his way through the final sector.
Click here for Top Ten Shootout results
The Brad Jones Racing driver will launch from the front row for just the fifth time in his 252-race career.
The 2011 Bathurst winner's first pole came on the Townsville streets last September.
It was BJR's 18th pole, and the team's first in a shootout since the late Jason Richards at Hidden Valley in 2009.
Percat's 1:43.860s proved 0.4s quicker than Shane van Gisbergen, who is in the box seat to clinch both the 2021 drivers' title and Beaurepaires Sydney Cup on Sunday.
Van Gisbergen's last remaining title rival, Red Bull Ampol Racing teammate Jamie Whincup, will start seventh.
"It was hard," said Percat, who will move to Walkinshaw Andretti United in 2022.
"I knew roughly what I had to do; in qualy, we had a bit of fogging... 'I think I'm going to do a 43.8'.
"That was the number in my head I had manifested.
"Watching the other guys, I could hear them wheel-spinning a lot... the BJR car was mega, it had such good traction out of the corner.
"Massive credit to the BJR guys... I told Brad in our discussions earlier in the year that I'm not going to give up on you.
"I want to win some trophies... so far we've got a trophy, and now we've got a pole position."
David Reynolds was first man out and clocked a 1:44.397s through the spray, and his time held firm before Percat set what would be the only 1:43s lap of the shootout.
Cameron Waters, Chaz Mostert, Jamie Whincup and Tim Slade all failed to unseat Reynolds, before Percat undercut the Kelly Grove Racing driver's time by 0.537s.
Fabian Coulthard impressed aboard his Team Sydney entry to qualify sixth.
Todd Hazelwood, van Gisbergen and provisional pole-sitter Andre Heimgartner were all unable to shift Percat's time.
The 64-lap Race 30 will commence at 3:15pm AEDT.
