McLaughlin flies into Supercars shootout

Ford star Scott McLaughlin’s Supercars dominance looks set to continue after he smashed the clock and grabbed provisional pole position for Sunday’s 200km race in Townsville.

One day after he took the championship lead by winning Saturday’s race, McLaughlin broke his lap record with a sizzling time of one minute and 12.0307 seconds.

The final grid positions will be decided in a top-10 shootout, but McLaughlin’s gap of 0.2679 to Prodrive Racing Australia’s Chaz Mostert is an ominous sign for his rivals.

“I’m a lucky boy,” McLaughlin said.

“I’m just counting my lucky stars to be in a car this good.”

Mostert’s teammate Mark Winterbottom continued Prodrive’s resurgence at Reid Park street circuit with the third fastest time.

Erebus Motorsport’s David Reynolds was fourth, ahead of Triple Eight Racing duo Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen.

All four of Prodrive’s cars will be in the shootout, with Cameron Waters and Jason Bright, who is celebrating his 250th championship round, seventh and eighth respectively.

Holden veteran Garth Tander and Nissan’s Rick Kelly round out the top 10.

McLaughlin’s DJR Team Penske teammate Fabian Coulthard’s tough weekend continued, with the former series leader qualifying 12th fastest.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do in a qually sense, but we won’t give up,” Coulthard said.

The shootout for pole kicks off from 1.15pm with Sunday’s 70-lap race starting at 4.10pm.

TOP 10 SHOOTOUT CONTENDERS

Scott McLaughlin (Ford)

Chaz Mostert (Ford)

Mark Winterbottom (Ford)

David Reynolds (Holden)

Jamie Whincup (Holden)

Shane van Gisbergen (Holden)

Cameron Waters (Ford)

Jason Bright (Ford)

Garth Tander (Holden)

Rick Kelly (Nissan)

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