Le Brocq snatches maiden MSR Supercars pole

MATT Stone Racing has put itself in with a chance to create its own Hidden Valley fairytale after Jack Le Brocq took the team’s maiden Repco Supercars Championship pole position.

Le Brocq will start from pole for Race 3 this afternoon, while Broc Feeney will have that honour for the earlier encounter today.

The jumbled-up results follow Mark Winterbottom clinching Team 18’s first race win yesterday.

Qualifying for Race 2

With track conditions not improving as had been hoped, it was Macauley Jones who led the way for the bulk of the first 15-minute session on a 1:06.4078s.

That kept him on top until roughly 90 seconds to go when a flurry of late flyers produced a mixed-up leaderboard.

Feeney knocked Jones off top spot with a 1:06.1426s that remained good enough for pole position as the battle turned to who’d join him on the front row.

That ultimately was Andre Heimgartner, who fell just 0.0098s shy of Feeney’s marker.

Shane van Gisbergen qualified third ahead of Erebus Motorsport teammates Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown.

James Golding completed an all-Camaro top six, with Ford’s top driver being Nick Percat in seventh.

Jones slid to 12th while plenty of big names struggled.

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In fact, the last six grid slots all will be occupied by race winners: Anton De Pasquale, David Reynolds, Winterbottom, Chaz Mostert, Cam Waters and James Courtney.

For Winterbottom that was a major change of fortunes after his Saturday heroics, Team 18 running their Camaros out of sequence and paying the price.

MORE: Winterbottom reflects on emotional Darwin triumph

Race 2 will start at 11:50am local time (12:20pm AEST).

Qualifying for Race 3

Only 11 cars set laps in the first half of the later session, Todd Hazelwood the fastest of those on a 1:06.2814s.

As crunch time arrived, Feeney gave himself a shot at making it two-from-two for the morning, going to the top on a 1:06.0712s.

But in the blink of an eye he was fourth – a mere 0.0161s off pole – as Le Brocq, Heimgartner and Winterbottom shot ahead.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet, I don’t know what to say,” Le Brocq reacted.

“Awesome job by the guys, they have done a great job this year.

“I think this Gen3 thing has been a good shake-up for the category and great for us, we’ve got new cars and the guys did a great job in the off-season.

“Absolutely stoked.”

MORE: Feeney’s view on overtaking SVG in title race

This time Will Davison was Ford’s best in sixth, while Waters and De Pasquale rebounded to put themselves on the fourth row.

The day did not get better, however, for Mostert and Courtney who locked out the back row.

Results: Qualifying for Race 2, 2023 Darwin Triple Crown

Results: Qualifying for Race 3, 2023 Darwin Triple Crown