Will Brown has taken provisional pole position for Saturday’s opening race of the Adelaide 500 in a dramatic qualifying session interrupted by a red-flag after three crashes at the exit of Turn 8.
What was planned to be a short 15-minute stanza to determine grid positions 11-24 for Saturday’s race was stopped after five minutes when David Reynolds, and his Team18 Chevrolet could not avoid the stationary Chevrolet of Cam Hill, who had already hit the wall, leaving both Camaros stranded in the middle of the track.
As a result the session was suspended and then declared, in spite of the fact that a number of drivers were yet to set a representative lap time.
Brown set a time of 1m19.4425s lap in his Triple Eight Chevrolet, ahead of Tickford Racing’s duo Cam Water and Tom Randle. Broc Feeney, the other driver in title contention, was fourth in his Triple Eight Chevrolet.
The rest of the top 10 was a bit of a shock, with Blanchard Racing putting both its Fords in, in fifth place (James Courtney) and seventh (Aaron Love). Matt Payne was sixth for Grove Racing ahead of Love and the Brad Jones Chevrolets of Jaxon Evans, Macauley Jones and Bryce Fullwood.
On the other hand Chaz Mostert, who is fighting for third in the championship, was one of the drivers left stranded by the stoppage, and will start the race from 22nd in his Walkinshaw Andretti United Ford.
Reynolds, who topped both practice sessions, did not think that the late-afternoon shadows were a factor in his crash.
“There was a bit of a yellow flag, I probably stayed on the brakes a bit too long and had a crash myself,” he said. “There are definitely some shadows across [the track] but that is not my excuse, at all.”
Hill said his car may not be able to be fixed in time for Saturday’s race.
“It’s pretty cooked. First push lap, there are a lot of shadows there but I am not going to say that is why I shunted.”
Another driver had already hit the wall at the same place, Richie Stanaway smashing the Grove Racing Ford into the concrete just seconds earlier.
Bathurst winner Brodie Kostecki will line up 12th while the other Erebus Motorsport car, which is being driven by the team’s 2025 signing Cooper Murray after current driver Jack Le Brocq rushed back to Melbourne on Friday morning for the birth of his first child. Murray qualified in 17th position.
Brown comes into the weekend with a 180-point lead over Feeney, the only other driver in title contention. A total of 300 points are on offer across the two races.
The Supercars will be back in action on Saturday, with the drivers taking to the track at 10:00am, Australian Central Daylight Saving Time, for a 30-minute practice session. The single-car top 10 shootout will start at 12:35pm and the 23rd race of the year, over 78 laps, is set for 3:20pm.
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