Double delight for Toyota as Mostert, Heimgartner claim Saturday Tasmania poles

Chaz Mostert and Andre Heimgartner have split the Saturday pole positions at the Tyrepower Tasmania Super 440, as Toyota continued their impressive start to life in the Repco Supercars Championship.

Mostert claimed Toyota's third pole position of the year, and his first for 2026, as he mastered changeable conditions in the first qualifying session of the morning.

When the conditions dried out, it was Heimgartner who stood up for Brad Jones Racing, securing the team's first pole of the year for Race 15. It was both the team and driver's first pole position since Sydney 2023.

The biggest scare of the morning was reserved for Kai Allen, who spun his Penrite Racing Ford into the wall in the first part of Race 15 Qualifying.

Race 14

Drivers were greeted with damp conditions as the first segment of qualifying began, with drivers and engineers alike scratching their heads as to whether wet or dry tyres would be the preferred rubber.

Bets were hedged as the field was evenly split between wet and dry tyres. However, halfway through the 12-minute session, the question was emphatically answered as rain started to lightly fall again.

That left many of the heavy hitters buried in the pack as the clock wound down, and with the top 10 progressing to Q2, the pressure ramped up.

Championship leader Broc Feeney was under huge pressure, and jumped from 15th to sixth on his final lap to progress into Q2 at the last gasp. Team 18 once again were supreme, Anton De Pasquale leading teammate David Reynolds by 0.0268s on a 54.8720s.

The big names to miss out were Will Brown in 12th, as well as both Penrite Racing Mustangs, with Matt Payne 19th and Allen buried in 22nd.

The Soft tyre proved the fastest right out of the gate in Q2, Heimgartner taking his Toyota to P1 on his first lap with a 54.2313s, before going more than a second faster on his next lap with a 53.1423s.

Brad Jones Racing teammate Cameron Hill then found himself jumping to the top of the pile on a 52.3396s, but with three minutes remaining there was plenty of time for things to change.

Both Team 18 Camaros, Feeney, and Cam Waters were yet to lay down markers on dry tyres, with Feeney immediately jumping to the top on a 52.0609s.

As the track continued to dry, Heimgartner and Brodie Kostecki both jumped to the top, however it was Mostert who snuck in final lap after the chequered flag to claim his first Toyota pole.

De Pasquale also jumped late to claim his second front row start in as many races, with Kostecki and Heimgartner provisionally making up the second row.

Kostecki, however, finds himself under investigation for potentially impeding Jackson Walls in Q1, and could be hit with a grid penalty should he be found in breach.

Race 15

Conditions continued to dry for Race 15 Qualifying, with the field rolling out on slick tyres for the initial 12-minute segment.

All cars bar the Walkinshaw TWG Toyotas rolled out on the Super Soft tyres, with Mostert and Ryan Wood diving straight back in after an installation lap to road their wet weather rubber.

It was still treacherous off line, as Jack Le Brocq proved with a wild spin off the final corner, spinning through 360 degrees across the pit straight and somehow avoiding both walls and the pack behind.

Macauley Jones, Jackson Walls, and Aaron Cameron also had wild moments through Turns 1 and 2 as the track continued to dry.

As the chequered flag flew, Feeney went to the top on a 50.9303s, Allen hit the fence hard at the final corner on his final push lap, and spun back across the track with significant damage to the rear of the #26 Ford.

That consigned Supercars' newest race winner to 17th on the grid, with Mostert only managing 13th after securing pole mere minutes prior for the opening race. Thomas Randle also remonstrated with Cooper Murray post-session.

Reynolds set the first Q2 benchmark at a 51.0706s, and it was a benchmark that stood up through the first run, with Payne and Hill both within a tenth.

However, the man of the final run was Heimgartner, who set a 50.9932s on his first flyer, before tucking in behind fellow Kiwi Payne for his final lap.

Payne snuck ahead on a 50.9210s, before Heimgartner benefitted from Payne's reference and a tow down the back straight to go back to the top on a 50.8657s, pipping the Penrite Ford by 0.05553s.

Supercars action resumes with Race 14 at 1:00pm AEST, with Race 15 commencing at 4:00pm AEST.