Van Gisbergen blitzes interrupted Gold Coast qualifying

SHANE van Gisbergen continued his march towards the Repco Supercars Championship title by setting the pace in qualifying for the opening leg of the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500.

The Kiwi, who will secure his third title if he finishes 24th or better today, clocked a 1:10.4046s best lap to be 0.3919s clear of his nearest rival Chaz Mostert.

A 20-minute session set the order for a Top 10 Shootout ahead of the 250km race.

Also locking in Shootout spots were Brodie Kostecki, Will Davison, James Courtney, David Reynolds, Andre Heimgartner, Thomas Randle, Cameron Waters and Anton De Pasquale.

Two red flag periods interrupted the session.

The first stoppage was called just five minutes in when Jake Kostecki crashed his Mustang at Turn 12 – bouncing off the right-side wall before making lighter contact on the left.

“I just locked a brake late and there’s nothing you can do after that,” he said.

“We struggled yesterday but we worked on it overnight and I felt quite confident. It was just a little mishap and it ended our session. It sucks.”

Waters and Davison had taken the top two spots just prior to the stoppage and improved further after the resumption.

Van Gisbergen though eclipsed both Mustangs at the top of the order before the second red flag period with nine minutes to go.

That was the result of Todd Hazelwood nosing his Matt Stone Racing Commodore into the tyre wall at the final corner.

Van Gisbergen returned to eclipse his previous 1:10.6696s with a 1:10.4046s four minutes from the chequered flag, which would not be beaten.

“It means nothing, though. The Shootout is still to come.,” said van Gisbergen.

“We did a Shootout run on my second lap, so we had the tyres a bit up, and I couldn’t turn the tyre on, so that’s a bit of a worry.”

The focus in the final minutes was on the positions at the bottom of the top 10.

Those to narrowly miss the Shootout were Scott Pye, Nick Percat, Mark Winterbottom, James Golding and Broc Feeney, who will fill 11th through 15th on the grid.

Despite topping the session, van Gisbergen further expressed frustration with the policing of kerb hopping at the street circuit.

Amid calls for changes to the electronic kerb sensor system following practice, only a minor change – moving the Turn 1 tyre bundle inwards – was made overnight.

“The top three drivers (on Friday) decided to do something, we got everyone to sign the form, everyone agreed that the kerbs aren’t good enough and we need to do something,” he said.

“I thought we had good discussions last night and thought we had some progress, all the drivers were stoked, and then came back this morning and they said ‘no, it’s how it is’.

“It’s very average and it’s not the same for everyone, because it’s however your car flies. It’s a real lottery and they didn’t help us.”