Payne fastest as Mostert, Waters flounder in bizarre qualifying

Several big names have been caught short in a Boost Mobile Qualifying session topped by Matt Payne, with Ford stars Cam Waters and Chaz Mostert buried in the pack for Saturday's race.

After a Friday dominated by Mustangs, it was the Ford of Penrite Racing driver Payne on top on Saturday.

However, mistakes for Waters and Mostert consigned the star duo to 21st and 17th, with championship leader Broc Feeney and Friday winner Brodie Kostecki narrowly clinching Top Ten Shootout berths.

Waters clipped the Turn 3 wall and was unable to progress, while Mostert surfed through the Turn 7/8 grass. Mostert's teammate Ryan Wood, meanwhile, will start 24th and last after being caught out by tyre temperature.

"I think we've just been struggling a little bit with the balance, just on the first lap," said Payne, who moved to second in the championship on Friday.

"Obviously it's a pretty short track here, it's pretty hard to get the tyres up for the first run. But it's funny how the tyres seem to hang on for some of us for the second lap, and you can get a bit more out of it.

"The first half of my lap on my second lap was a lot cleaner, and that's where I gained the time, and I lose a little bit at the end of the last lap."

Under sunny skies, the 24-car field rolled out to chase a Q2 berth, and both Triple Eight drivers immediately returned to pit lane. Through the first flyers, James Courtney was a surprise pace-setter with a 1:13.5886s, ahead of Cameron Hill and Aaron Cameron, with the track coming up to temperature.

Feeney, Will Brown and Cooper Murray hadn't set a time when the field returned for a final crack at sealing passage into Q2. Thomas Randle, Macauley Jones and Wood were also in the drop zone, with Mostert and Bryce Fullwood on the bubble.

Feeney and Brown responded with the fastest two times, with Payne jumping ahead. Kostecki went fastest of all with a 1:13.1193s, but his closest rival on Friday stole the early headlines with a shocking slump.

Waters confirmed a wall hit at Turn 3 was behind his surprise result, with Jaxon Evans, Nick Percat, Richie Stanaway, James Golding and Wood joining the Ford star in the drop zone. Hill beat Evans to a Q2 spot by 0.005s, with Will Davison 17th.

Feeney kicked off Q2 with a 1:13.4678s, before Brown exploded on new tyres with a 1:12.7202s. Kostecki, Payne, Jack Le Brocq, Kai Allen and Cameron hadn't set a time, with Brown getting out of the car and hoping for the best.

Allen put himself under pressure with a slide at Turn 3, with teammate Payne shooting to second. David Reynolds and Courtney both moved ahead of the Penrite Ford, with Feeney seventh and returning to the lane.

Payne put 0.037s on Brown's time with a 1:12.6824s, and scored provisional pole. Anton De Pasquale, who finished third on Friday, missed out on a Shootout berth by 0.06s.

All told, Payne, Brown, Courtney, Reynolds, Fullwood, Murray, Le Brocq, Feeney, Kostecki and Davison filled the top 10, with De Pasquale, Hill, Cameron, Andre Heimgartner, Randle, Allen, Mostert and Jones missing out.

Drivers will fight for pole in the Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout at 12:05pm AEST, which sets the grid for Race 21 at 3:00pm.