Wood fastest, Jones stuns as Brown, Waters miss Shootout
Ryan Wood fastest, Macauley Jones stuns in Sunday qualifying
Broc Feeney third as Will Brown, Cam Waters miss Darwin Shootout
Brown 11th, Brodie Kostecki 12th, Waters 16th in qualifying
Ryan Wood and Macauley Jones have stunned in Boost Mobile Qualifying in Darwin, as reigning champion Will Brown and Cam Waters both missed a Shootout berth.
Walkinshaw Andretti United driver Wood will be last out in Sunday's Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout, with Jones a brilliant second ahead of points leader Broc Feeney.
The biggest losers were Brown and Waters, who only qualified 11th and 16th. Chaz Mostert beat Brown to a Shootout berth by just 0.0239s, with Brodie Kostecki only 12th.
The Shootout will be contested by Wood, Jones, Feeney, Jack Le Brocq, Kai Allen, Andre Heimgartner, Anton De Pasquale, Matt Payne, Cameron Hill and Mostert.
Under sunny skies, Feeney kicked off Q1 with a 1:07.1865s, before Heimgartner lowered the number to a 1:06.9299s. Tickford Racing wildcard Rylan Gray was a surprise second with a 1:07.1127s, before drivers returned for their second push laps.
Aaron Cameron, Payne, Brown, Richie Stanaway, Kostecki and Feeney all improved, but were unable to dislodge Heimgartner's time. Through the opening runs, Mostert, Jones, Nick Percat, De Pasquale, Cooper Murray and David Reynolds were in the drop zone, with Hill on the bubble.
In a rapid flurry of times, Allen emerged fastest with a 1:06.3763s ahead of Feeney, Hill and Le Brocq, with Brown 13th and Waters 16th. Remarkably, from Allen to Waters, 16 cars were covered by just 0.2s. James Courtney denied Percat a Q2 berth by 0.012s, with Reynolds, Gray, Stanaway, Murray and Cameron also knocked out.
There was tension down at Team 18 before Q2 commenced, with De Pasquale reporting no clutch. The Race 18 runner-up managed to set a time good enough for 12th in Q1, and returned to the track for Q2.
Feeney started Q2 with a 1:06.7976s, which was over 0.4s down on Brown's first flyer. Through the opening runs, the provisional 10 was Brown, Hill, Davison, De Pasquale, Jones, Waters, Randle, Heimgartner, Le Brocq and Mostert, with Feeney 13th and Payne 14th.
Feeney jumped to third, but that became 12th as several drivers improved, Wood quickest on a 1:06.0710s. Wood's time remained the best all told as Jones and Feeney jumped up, with Brown, Kostecki and Waters all missing out.
Wood had 0.16s on Jones, with drivers from second to 10th covered by 0.0887s.
The Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout, at 11:35am local/12:05pm AEST, will set the grid for Race 19 at 2:40pm local/3:10pm AEST.
