Resurgent Will Brown claims pole for Ipswich finale
2024 champion leads Triple Eight front row lockout
Sprint Cup leader Matt Payne to start sixth
Will Brown's remarkable resurgence has continued in stunning fashion, with the Triple Eight star claiming his second Boost Mobile Pole Award of the season in Ipswich.
The 2024 Supercars champion, off the back of an emotional win in a classic Saturday afternoon sprint, backed up to claim a superb Top Ten Shootout pole, amid more scenes of pandemonium in the Red Bull Ampol Racing garage.
Capping off a brilliant morning for Triple Eight, Brown will be joined by teammate Broc Feeney on the front row of the grid, the Ford pair covered by less than a tenth of a second.
Repco Sprint Cup leader Matt Payne is still in the box seat to punch the first Golden Ticket to the Finals, having already qualified on points yesterday, but the Kiwi could only manage sixth on the grid.
The final race of the 2026 Sprint Cup will commence at 3:20pm local time, to be run over 200km.
Qualifying
All 27 cars rolled out on used tyres under clear, sunny skies in Ipswich, with Feeney leading the way early on a 1:09.5684s.
Times remained well down on the record 1:08.0105s set by Payne in overcast conditions on Saturday, with Feeney remaining fastest with a 1:09.2677s.
There were no major surprises in the Q1 drop zone, with outside Finals contender Jayden Ojeda's tough weekend continuing as he missed the cut by just over a tenth of a second, Jackson Walls on the other side of the equation.
Wildcards Ben Gomersall, Bayley Hall and Aaron Seton were 20th, 22nd, and 23rd respectively, split by rookie Jobe Stewart. Cameron Hill, Zach Bates, Declan Fraser, and Macauley Jones were also eliminated.
Tyre strategy played out early in Q2, with Kai Allen, Brodie Kostecki, Chaz Mostert, Thomas Randle and Ryan Wood all electing to road tyres on their out lap from the pits.
Off the back of his drought breaking win on Saturday, Brown went fastest early on a 1:09.1878s, before the final run began with a traffic jam in pit lane.
Allen put himself under pressure as he sprayed a lap that would've put him fastest, giving him just one opportunity to break into the Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout.
Allen put it beyond doubt when he shot to the top on a last gasp flyer, a 1:09.0149s pipping an improved marker from the #888 Ford by just 0.0557s. Allen, though, was put under investigation for a potential impeding incident on Walls.
Fords dominated the top 10, with Mostert in fifth the only non-Toyota in the Shootout order, Team 18 and Chevrolet's Anton De Pasquale missing out on the Shootout by just half a tenth of a second in 11th.
De Pasquale was joined by Andre Heimgartner, Jack Le Brocq, David Reynolds, Randle, Cooper Murray, Wood and Walls in the drop zone.
Top Ten Shootout
The trend of drivers setting times on second and even third flying laps would mean nothing in the Shootout, with only one chance to set a lap on a track that drivers said was significantly more slippery than it was 24 hours earlier.
The pioneer would be Rylan Gray, continuing his strong recent run of qualifying form for the Shell V-Power Racing Team. A 1:09.8438s was the marker to chase.
Aaron Cameron immediately beat that marker with a 1:09.4327s, benefitting from a new set of tyres to Gray's used set. Cam Waters then went to the top on a 1:09.3116s, despite a slide off the Turn 1 apex kerb.
James Golding looked set to move the marker considerably when he went two tenths faster to the first sector, however he lost balance as the lap went on, falling short by just 0.0190s.
Repco Sprint Cup leader Payne was only provisional sixth following Q2, and set a 1:09.2798s to go fastest at the halfway mark of the Shootout. Mostert then put in a very strong effort, a 1:09.0915s right on the money with the times set in provisional qualifying. Kostecki then went even faster on a 1:09.0435s.
Feeney broke new ground as the first into the 1:08s range for Sunday, but his 1:08.9309s was immediately knocked off by the brilliant Brown on a 1:08.8316s.
That left Allen as the only man who could stop the 2024 champion, and after being fastest through the first two sectors, the #26 Ford could only manage third, forming a Red Bull Ampol Racing front row.
Kostecki, Mostert, Payne, Waters, Golding, Cameron and Gray rounded out the top 10.
