Scott McLaughlin is closing in on a maiden Supercars title after comfortably qualifying for the top-10 shootout ahead of the season’s final race in Newcastle.

The 24-year-old steeled himself after a 10-minute delay in Sunday’s qualifying at the street circuit, which is being used for the first time this weekend, to sit fourth on the timesheets in 1min 10.3715sec.

McLaughlin will be crowned champion if he finishes 11th or better in the 250km race after six-time title winner Jamie Whincup endured a disastrous race on Saturday, finishing 23rd.

Prodrive Racing Australia’s Mark Winterbottom was quickest in 1:10.201, less than two tenths of a second faster than McLaughlin.

“The car’s pretty quick, just didn’t quite get it right,” McLaughlin said.

Overnight repairs to the track had made the track slower, McLaughlin said.

“It’s slippery on the new bits they put in. You have to change your line on a few places,” he said.

“You just got used to this place and you have to change it again but same for everyone and we’ll go out and have a go in the shootout.”

Whincup started the weekend 30 points ahead of McLaughlin but the Ford star’s victory on Saturday saw him leapfrog the Supercars legend and take a 78-point lead.

Whincup was sixth fastest in qualifying, while Triple Eight Racing teammate Shane van Gisbergen was second.

Three Nissans including retiring veteran Todd Kelly, his brother Rick and Michael Caruso will also line up in the shootout.

Bathurst 1000 winner David Reynolds, Winterbottom’s teammate Chaz Mostert and DJR Team Penske’s Fabvian Coulthard round out the top 10.

James Courtney’s horror year continued when he made a mistake and ploughed into a wall, forcing a pause in proceedings after five minutes.

His No. 22 Commodore was towed as he walked away unscathed.

“At least the year’s been consistent,” Courtney said.

Sunday’s half-hour shootout commences at 12.40pm AEDT, ahead of the year’s final race at 3.40pm.