McLaughlin grabs Supercars pole in Darwin

Ford star Scott McLaughlin has secured pole position for Sunday’s Supercars sprint in Darwin with a sizzling top-10 shootout lap.

The flying New Zealander was clearly quickest in 1min 5.7233sec, putting a gap of 0.3329 between him and Holden’s Jamie Whincup who will start alongside McLaughlin on the grid.

James Moffat put in a strong performance to be third ahead of McLaughlin’s DJR Team Penske teammate and winner of Saturday’s race Fabian Coulthard.

McLaughlin’s seventh pole of the season gives him a golden opportunity to give Penske a clean sweep at Hidden Valley Raceway in Sunday’s 72-lap race.

“I’ve got to thank all the guys at Shell V-Power Racing for giving me a quick car and (engineer) Ludo (Lacroix), he’s a wizard,” McLaughlin said.

Erebus driver David Reynolds dropped to seventh after a disappointing lap, while Lee Holdsworth went some of the way to exorcising his Darwin demons by jumping to sixth in searing heat.

Holdsworth broke his pelvis in a horror crash at last year’s Top End event.

Whincup’s Red Bull Racing teammate and defending champion Shane van Gisbergen put himself into fifth on the grid, while Cameron Waters, Craig Lowndes and Nick Percat rounded out the top 10.

Sunday’s race starts at 1.30pm (2pm AEST).

TOP 10 GRID SPOTS

Scott McLaughlin (Ford)

Jamie Whincup (Holden)

James Moffat (Holden)

Fabian Coulthard (Ford)

Shane van Gisbergen (Holden)

Lee Holdsworth (Holden)

David Reynolds (Holden)

Cameron Waters (Ford)

Craig Lowndes (Holden)

Nick Percat (Holden)

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