Defending series champion Scott McLaughlin has claimed provisional pole for the first race of the opening Supercars round in Adelaide.

Ford’s McLaughlin has clocked a lap of one minute, 19:59 seconds in his new Mustang to top qualifying ahead of Holden’s seven-time series champ Jamie Whincup and Fabian Coulthard.

The front of the grid will be determined by Saturday’s top-10 shootout before the opening 250km race.