Cam Waters on provisional Sunday pole, several Finals Drivers miss Shootout
Ryan Wood, Brodie Kostecki, Anton De Pasquale, Will Brown all miss out
Brown spins out at front chicane, picks up kerb strike on flying lap
Cam Waters has claimed provisional pole for Race 29 of the Repco Supercars Championship at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500, however four Finals Drivers have missed the cut for today's Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout.
Ryan Wood, Brodie Kostecki, Anton De Pasquale, and Will Brown will all be starting in the mid-pack for this afternoon's race, with Brown in particular having a torrid session.
The reigning champion ended Q2 with no time against his name, having hit the Turn 1 tyre bundle on his first lap, surviving a close shave on his second lap, and then picking up a kerb strike on his last attempt.
Brown will start 18th alongside De Pasquale on Row 9, whilst Wood and Kostecki will line up in 13th and 14th after they both missed chicanes on their final runs, in what is shaping as a must-win day to keep their seasons alive.
David Reynolds was forced to jump out of his #20 TRADIE Energy Camaro with a loss of brake pressure that was fortunately found before he rolled out on track. The 2023 Sunday Gold Coast winner will start from the back of the grid this afternoon.
However one car that was back in action was Brodie Kostecki's #38 Shell V-Power Mustang, after Dick Johnson Racing completed a heroic all-night rebuild.
Kostecki would have no trouble getting back up to speed, and would safely progress to Q2 in seventh, however he did report an 'unusual noise' coming from the car through the session.
At the end of Q1 Matt Payne leapt to the top despite the Soft tyre being used today, eclipsing his own practice/qualifying record set yesterday on the Super Soft with a 1:08.1119, ahead of Broc Feeney and yesterday's winner Chaz Mostert, who were also under record pace.
Notably, the top 10 drivers at the end of Q1 were all 10 Finals Drivers.
Joining the luckless Reynolds in the drop zone after Q1 were Cameron Hill, Jack Le Brocq, Cooper Murray, James Golding, and Macauley Jones.
In Q2, pressure was immediately placed on Will Brown and Anton De Pasquale, who picked left front damage and a kerb strike respectively on their first laps, and were forced to pit without a time to their name.
Cam Waters went fastest ahead of Mostert and Andre Heimgartner, whilst the Blanchard Racing Team Mustangs also impressed with Aaron Cameron sitting third for a time, and James Courtney also in the top 10.
The pressure got to Brown, who had an even bigger moment at the first chicane on his next run, flicking sideways over the Turn 2 kerb, and glancing the rear left corner on the tyre wall, and nosing into the concrete at the exit of Turn 3.
The red flags waved, however Brown got away without any major damage, and rolled straight back out when the session went green again with two and a half minutes remaining, enough time for a single lap.
Waters would set a 1:08.3262 on his final lap to claim provisional pole, 0.0621s ahead of Mostert, with Payne rounding out the top three.
The remainder of today's Shootout field will be comprised of Feeney, Thomas Randle, Richie Stanaway, Heimgartner, Cameron, Courtney, and Kai Allen.
The Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout will commence at 11:35am local time/12:35pm AEDT, before Race 29 begins at 2:10pm local time/3:10pm AEDT.