CHAMPIONSHIP leader Brodie Kostecki will start Sunday’s second leg of the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 from pole after an incident-filled Top 10 Shootout.
The #99 Erebus Camaro was the sixth car on track in the one-at-a-time session, bumping previous fast-man Matt Payne from the top spot with a 1:11.0118s.
Title rival Shane van Gisbergen was up next but triggered a kerb strike in the beach chicane, ending his lap. He’ll start ninth.
Next runner David Reynolds knocked Grove teammate Payne from second spot, but there was bigger drama to come.
Kostecki’s teammate Will Brown tagged the wall in the first chicane and spun, subsequently limping to the chequered flag with damage.
Weekend pacesetter Cam Waters then had his chance at knocking Kostecki from pole, but misjudged Turn 11 and opted for the escape road.
The final order was Kostecki, Reynolds, Payne, Chaz Mostert, Mark Winterbottom, James Golding, Waters, Brown, van Gisbergen and De Pasquale – who lost his lap with a kerb strike at the first chicane.
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Kostecki heads into today’s race with a 104-point championship lead over van Gisbergen, with only one event remaining in Adelaide next month.
“That was probably the best lap of my career,” said Kostecki, who now has eight poles for the season and is assured of the $10,000 prize for most in the season.
“There’s a lot on the line here this weekend and you have got to take a lot of risks to get lap time out of the car.
“In qualifying it was pretty sort of evil, I thought I was going to write it off at one point but George (Commins, engineer) got it tuned up quite nicely then for the heat and it was a dream to drive so I’m stoked to be on the front-row.
“I think it’s Dave on the front-row, so we’ll just see if we can a jump at the start and just see what happens from there.”
Brown meanwhile was among those left to lick his wounds.
“It’s unfortunate, I just screwed up,” he said.
“I got over the first kerb alright and just was carrying a bit too much speed and slid into that.
“Luckily it looks like it’s superficial damage. When I got going, I thought it’d be something more and I’d probably have to stop.”
Today’s 85-lap race will start at 2:15pm local time (3:15pm AEDT).
RESULTS: Sunday Top 10 Shootout, 2023 Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 99 | Brodie Kostecki | Erebus | Chevrolet | 1m11.0118s |
| 2 | 26 | David Reynolds | Grove | Ford | +0.1378s |
| 3 | 19 | Matthew Payne | Grove | Ford | +0.2867s |
| 4 | 25 | Chaz Mostert | WAU | Ford | +0.4596s |
| 5 | 18 | Mark Winterbottom | Team 18 | Chevrolet | +0.5915s |
| 6 | 31 | James Golding | PremiAir | Chevrolet | +0.6582s |
| 7 | 6 | Cam Waters | Tickford | Ford | +10.5133s |
| 8 | 9 | Will Brown | Erebus | Chevrolet | +18.9935s |
| 9 | 97 | Shane van Gisbergen | Triple Eight | Chevrolet | NTR |
| 10 | 11 | Anton De Pasquale | DJR | Ford | NTR |
