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Andrew van Leeuwen

Townsville Supercars: Waters tops qualifying, Kostecki misses Shootout

It proved to be a frantic scramble for a Shootout berth with the improvements coming right down to the flag.

Waters was in the hunt from the mid-point of the session, going quickest with a 1m13.812s before being shuffled back to second by Matt Payne.

The Tickford driver then stormed back to the top on his crucial final run, a 1m13.320s leaving him a tenth clear of the field and on provisional pole.

"Night and day different," said Waters of his Mustang compared to Friday practice. "Yesterday was a bit of a shock to us. I guess we tuned it up over yesterday and got the car better with those aero changes.

"[It was] much happier then, the car is definitely going in the right direction. It's still hard work out there, but we'll make it a bit nicer hopefully for the Shootout."

Payne was the sensation of the session, the rookie also improving on his final run to slot into second and ensure he'll make his Shootout debut.

Will Brown was best of the title contenders in third while Jack Le Brocq kept his good run of form going with the fourth fastest time.

Will Davison was the sole Dick Johnson Racing to make the Shootout with the fifth fastest time, teammate Anton De Pasquale having been shuffled down to 12th in the late flurry of times.

James Golding and Broc Feeney were sixth and seventh ahead of Ford drivers David Reynolds and Chaz Mostert.

Shane van Gisbergen will run first in the Shootout having narrowly made it through in 10th.

Interestingly the top 10 was an even split between the manufacturers with five Mustangs and five Camaros making it through.

That follows an aero change for the Fords which was meant to improve balance, but prompted scepticism from teams and drivers after Friday practice.

Series leader Brodie Kostecki, meanwhile, missed the Shootout altogether and will start today's 250-kilometre race from 15th.

The Shootout starts at 12pm local time.

Townsville 500 Qualifying results 

Cla # Driver Car Time Gap
1 6 Australia Cameron Waters Ford Mustang GT 1'13.3207  
2 19 Matthew Payne Ford Mustang GT 1'13.4650 0.1443
3 9 Australia Will Brown Chevrolet 1'13.4660 0.1453
4 34 Australia Jack Le Brocq Chevrolet 1'13.5498 0.2291
5 17 Australia Will Davison Ford Mustang GT 1'13.6148 0.2941
6 31 Australia James Golding Chevrolet 1'13.6467 0.3260
7 88 Broc Feeney Chevrolet 1'13.6766 0.3559
8 26 Australia David Reynolds Ford Mustang GT 1'13.6889 0.3682
9 25 Australia Chaz Mostert Ford Mustang GT 1'13.7406 0.4199
10 97 New Zealand Shane van Gisbergen Chevrolet 1'13.7427 0.4220
11 14 Australia Bryce Fullwood Chevrolet 1'13.8077 0.4870
12 11 Australia Anton De Pasquale Ford Mustang GT 1'13.8105 0.4898
13 20 Australia Scott Pye Chevrolet 1'13.8539 0.5332
14 55 Australia Thomas Randle Ford Mustang GT 1'13.9019 0.5812
15 99 Brodie Kostecki Chevrolet 1'13.9206 0.5999
16 5 Australia James Courtney Ford Mustang GT 1'13.9386 0.6179
17 8 New Zealand Andre Heimgartner Chevrolet 1'13.9870 0.6663
18 3 Australia Todd Hazelwood Ford Mustang GT 1'14.0117 0.6910
19 96 Australia Macauley Jones Chevrolet 1'14.0220 0.7013
20 2 Australia Nick Percat Ford Mustang GT 1'14.1740 0.8533
21 18 Australia Mark Winterbottom Chevrolet 1'14.2213 0.9006
22 777 Declan Fraser Ford Mustang GT 1'14.2448 0.9241
23 35 Cameron Hill Chevrolet 1'14.3092 0.9885
24 4 Australia Jack Smith Chevrolet 1'14.7560 1.4353
25 23 Australia Tim Slade Chevrolet 1'27.3118 13.9911
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