Brown denies Wood, Waters rises in tight Tasmania Shootout
Supercars
11 May
Will Brown denies Ryan Wood in thrilling Tasmania Shootout
Reigning champion takes first pole of title defence by just 0.08s
Cam Waters vaults from 10th to third, points leader Broc Feeney fifth
Will Brown has denied Ryan Wood to claim the first pole of his title defence in a thrilling Boost Mobile Shootout at the Snowy River Caravans Tasmania Super 440.
Triple Eight Race Engineering star Brown, who lost the championship lead to teammate Broc Feeney on Saturday, closed out the Shootout with a 51.4905s.
The reigning champion secured pole by just 0.0804s over Wood, with Cam Waters powering from 10th in qualifying to third in the Shootout.
Points leader Feeney will start fifth behind PremiAir Racing’s James Golding, with Golding’s teammate Richie Stanaway sixth ahead of the impressive Jaxon Evans.
Thomas Randle, Cooper Murray and Anton De Pasquale rounded out the top 10, completing the grid for Sunday’s 78-lap Race 13.
Waters went first and pieced together a 51.6436s, which proved too much for Golding (51.6936s), Stanaway (51.7401s) and Evans (51.9422s) to overcome.
Wood, fitted with green tyres, knocked Waters off the top with a 51.5745s, with Murray (51.9975s), De Pasquale (52.0093s) and Randle (51.9525s) all going slower.
Feeney rolled out and struggled to pull up his Red Bull Ampol Camaro, and could only manage fourth with a 51.6953s.
Only Brown stood in the way of a shock debut pole for Wood, with Brown also chasing his first pole of the season.
Under pressure, Brown nailed a 51.4905s to deny Wood a maiden Supercars pole, with the Red Bull Ampol driver scoring his first pole since the 2024 Sandown 500.
"It has been that long, we haven't been the greatest in qualifying, Broc's been doing a fantastic job this year," said Brown, who took his eighth career pole.
"Really wanted to bounce back today for the big race and start off the front row, so just got to walk it away this afternoon and see how we end up.
"I even took my laptop home last night and I was studying all last night Broc's laps, working out where he was doing a better job than me.
"At the end of the day, I've got the same car as him, so I needed to bounce back and do a great job which we've done today.
"To get a pole award is absolutely awesome, and it's a credit to my guys, the whole team, but also the guys on my car to get them a pole position."
