Waters on provisional pole, Kostecki misses Shootout

FORD has bounced back in Qualifying for Race 1 at the NTI Townsville 500, with Cam Waters and Matt Payne leading the way.

Several Blue Oval teams had remained disgruntled even after day one of running an updated aero package, with some claiming the pre-Townsville parity tweak might even be a step backwards.

That has not translated into qualifying, with five Mustangs making it through to the Top 10 Shootout.

The early pace in the 15-minute session had been set by Erebus Motorsport duo Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown, the #99’s benchmark being a 1:13.9206s.

Jack Le Brocq and then Waters popped up to the top of the timesheets before Grove Racing rookie Payne blew the field away on a 1:13.5186s.

There was a late flurry of flyers with Brown going to the top before Waters’ late 1:13.3207s.

Payne improved late to get within 0.1443s of Waters and book his maiden berth in a Top 10 Shootout.

The session was, of course, largely about getting through to the Shootout, with Brown, Le Brocq, Will Davison, James Golding, Broc Feeney, David Reynolds, Chaz Mostert and Shane van Gisbergen also proceeding.

Bryce Fullwood was the unlucky driver to miss the cut, bumped out late by Reynolds.

The biggest casualty was championship leader Kostecki, who managed just 15th.

Kostecki had also been outside the top 10 in Friday practice, affected in the opening session by a steering issue and mucking up his best lap in the latter hitout.

Tim Slade will start from last after a steering drama prevented him from setting a representative lap.

The Top 10 Shootout starts at 12pm, before Race 1 kicks off at 2:40pm.

Results: Qualifying for Race 1, NTI Townsville 500