Championship contenders eliminated in Darwin shocks

Anton De Pasquale, Ryan Wood and Will Brown all stumbled in Boost Mobile Qualifying for Saturday's betr Darwin Triple Crown race, with Brodie Kostecki quickest ahead of Cam Waters.

Kostecki, Waters, Matt Payne, Thomas Randle and Kai Allen formed an all-Ford top five, with Chaz Mostert, Jack Le Brocq, Broc Feeney, Zach Bates and James Golding also getting through.

The biggest losers were Brown, Wood and De Pasquale, who all missed out on a Shootout berth. De Pasquale, who qualified on the front row on Friday, slumped to 20th.

"It's like I'm going around on wets," De Pasquale told his team as he returned to pit lane.

Brown remained in the lane as times tumbled in Q2, eventually falling to 11th. Wood, meanwhile, made a critical mistake on his flying lap after Walkinshaw TWG Racing opted for a single flying run.

Q1

Drivers hit the track under sunny skies, and Aaron Cameron bizarrely ran off at Turn 1 as he approached teammate Golding on his first flying lap.

Friday winner Waters and 2024 Supercars champion Brown remained in the lane, as Payne kicked off the first runs with a 1:06.6057s. Payne's time quickly fell as Kostecki marched ahead with a 1:06.3739s. Payne (1:06.1862s) and Kostecki (1:06.2782s) improved their numbers, with Le Brocq behind in third. Feeney, meanwhile, was only seventh.

Under pressure, Waters, Brown, Mostert and Wood filed out with three minutes remaining, with Payne, Kostecki and Andre Heimgartner keeping a watching brief in the lane. Brown moved to 14th, but tumbled down to 22nd as the times improved.

Brown soared to 10th, as Feeney survived a major scare to scrape through to Q2 by just 0.01s. De Pasquale, meanwhile, was a scant 0.006s from sealing passage through to Q2, and will start on the outside of Row 10.

Q2

Feeney commenced his first run with a 1:06.8331s, but dropped down to ninth as his rivals got up the speed. Over radio, Feeney lamented a lack of turn and drive, with the #88 Red Bull Ampol Ford nearly 0.4s off the pace.

It was Waters who emerged fastest with a 1:06.4362s through the first runs, with Payne, Allen, Kostecki and Randle completing a Ford top five. The Walkinshaw TWG Racing and PremiAir Racing drivers, meanwhile, were all banking on one run to get through.

Kostecki led the train on the final runs, and set a personal best first sector. Heimgartner went fastest through the first sector, before Waters went even quicker. Kostecki moved the number to a 1:06.0531s, followed by Waters and Randle. Feeney was only seventh, with Brown ninth.

Mostert and Bates improved, while Brown returned to the lane. Wood, meanwhile, threw away his first lap with a lock-up and shortcut at Turn 5, before bowling a wide at Turn 1.

Kostecki, Waters, Payne, Randle, Allen, Mostert, Le Brocq, Feeney, Bates and Golding formed the 10, with Brown missing out by 0.02s.

The top 10 drivers will fight for pole in the Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout at 11:30am local time/12:00pm AEST, which sets the grid for Race 18 at 3:20pm local/3:50pm AEST.