Scott McLaughlin pushes Volvo in qualifying to clinch pole for final race at GC600

KIWI Scott McLaughlin pinched pole position on his final flying hot lap in qualifying for this afternoon’s Race 2 at the Gold Coast 600.

V8 Supercars. Castrol EDGE Gold Coast 600 at Surfers Paradise. Pictured is Scott McLaughlin charging through the beach chicane during qualifying today in which he gained pole position for the main race. Photo: Tim Hunter.

KIWI Scott McLaughlin pinched pole position on his final flying hot lap in qualifying for this afternoon’s Race 2 at the Gold Coast 600.

McLaughlin grabbed his eighth pole position of the season, pushing his Volvo to the limit to post a time of 1min 11.0273 to edge out Red Bull Racing’s Jamie Whincup (+0.1250) who leads the V8 Supercars championship.

Scott McLaughlin on his way to claiming pole position for this afternoon’s GC600 in his Valvoline Racing GRM Volvo.

“I’m stoked,” McLaughlin said. “The boys really deserved this.”

Whincup only needs to finish in the top nine of this afternoon’s 102-lap 300km race to claim the Pirtek Enduro Cup with co-driver Paul Dumbrell.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE GOLD COAST 600

FOLLOW SUNDAY’S ACTION LIVE HERE

Craig Lowndes (+0.2449) and yesterday’s winner in Race 1 Shane van Gisbergen (+0.2471) will share the second row of the grid.

V8 series leader Jamie Whincup in action during qualifying. Picture: Adam Head

Will Davison, David Reynolds, James Moffatt, Tim Slade, Chaz Mostert and James Courtney round out the top 10.

Ford’s Mark Winterbottom again missed the top 10 but that didn’t stop him yesterday when he climbed from 11th on the grid to a controversial fourth after having third place stripped for an illegal manoeuvre at the final turn.

Reynolds was impressive in The Bottle-O Racing Team Ford after the front end had to be repaired overnight after a heavy crash at the end of the back straight yesterday and Tim Slade’s effort to qualify eighth fastest came after he was clearly feeling the effects of heat stress after yesterday’s third-place finish.

Shane van Gisbergen’s strong weekend continues as he pushes his way to fourth place on the grid for this afternoon’s race after winning yesterday. Picture: Getty Images

Grid (top 10) for Gold Coast 600 Race 2 (1.55pm start)

1 Scott McLaughlin (Volvo) 1:11.0273

2 Jamie Whincup (Holden) +0.1250

3 Craig Lowndes (Holden) +0.2449

4 Shane van Gisbergen (Holden) +0.2471

5 Will Davison (Mercedes) +0.3922

6 David Reynolds (Ford) +0.4444

7 James Moffatt (Nissan) +0.4959

8 Tim Slade (Holden) +0.5019

9 Chaz Mostert (Ford) +0.5329

10 James Courtney (Holden) +0.5613