McLaughlin takes Darwin pole for Race 1, Whincup crashes out in practice

SUPERCARS championship leaders Scott McLaughlin and Jamie Whincup have shared the front row of the grid for the opening race at the BetEasy Darwin Triple Crown today

SUPERCARS championship leaders Scott McLaughlin and Jamie Whincup have shared the front row of the grid for the opening race at the BetEasy Darwin Triple Crown today.

McLaughlin took pole positionin the Top 15 Shootout at the end of the three-part qualifying session, recording a sizzling time of 1:06.8589s.

McLaughlin ended up 0.1329s quicker than Whincup, who was the eighth to run in the Shootout after his team had to scramble repair some major crash damage suffered by to his car in practice prior to qualifying.

A bad day becomes a worse day fro Brad Jones... #VASC pic.twitter.com/KSFgK8qydt

— Supercars (@supercars) August 15, 2020

“Jamie did a great lap there, a 6.9,” said McLaughlin, who leads Whincup in the championship race by 107 points.

“I thought if we could get a 6.8, it would put a bit of pressure on Shane and he’s obviously used a couple of sets of tyres to get into the Shootout.”

Darwin local and rookie Supercars driver Bryce Fullwood was the last man eliminated in Qualifying 1 at the last possible second by Shane van Gisbergen, who beat the buzzer by a hair get into a last-ditch qualifying lap.

Miraculously he then went on to set the fastest time for in Q1 which, sadly for his local supporters, eliminated Fullwood from further qualifying.

Fullwood will start today’s Supercars race from grid position 21.

So much chaos its hard to keep track of!

The @vodafoneAU Safety Car is out on the circuit! #VASC pic.twitter.com/TcxcpHsetc

— Supercars (@supercars) August 15, 2020

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Grid for Race 13

1. Scott McLaughlin

2. Jamie Whincup

3. Fabian Coulthard

4. Mark Winterbottom

5. Cameron Waters

6. Anton De Pasquale

7. David Reynolds

8. James Courtney

9. Shane van Gisbergen

10. Scott Pye

11. Todd Hazelwood

12. Nick Percat

13. Andre Heimgartner

14. Rick Kelly

15. Jack Le Brocq

16. Lee Holdsworth

17. Alex Davison

18. Jake Kostecki

19. Chris Pither

20. Chaz Mostert

21. Bryce Fullwood

22. Macauley Jones

23. Garry Jacobson

24. Jack Smith