Ford’s Chaz Mostert will start from pole position for Saturday’s 300km Supercars race on the Gold Coast as rain drenched the Surfers Paradise street circuit.

The Prodrive Racing Australia star claimed his first pole of the year with a 1min 21.5486sec fastest lap.

Holden’s Jamie Whincup will start from second with another Holden driver, Tim Slade, in third spot on the grid alongside Nissan’s Michael Caruso.

Mostert faced a nervous wait to see if his time would count, crossing the finish line almost simultaneously with a red flag being issued after Dale Wood buried his Erebus Holden into a tyre barrier.

Wood was one of several drivers who came unstuck in the 20-minute qualifying run, with up to 20mm of rain expected to fall on the Gold Coast on Saturday.

“The car’s been pretty good in the wet the last couple of rounds but this place is so sketchy,” Mostert told Fox Sports.

“Obviously very lucky to get the time just at the end there with that red coming out … grateful to the guys they gave me a good car in the dry yesterday and it’s still working in the wet.”

Ford driver Coulthard will start from a lowly 16th after a qualifying run which included a near-miss down an escape road early in the session but was keeping positive ahead of the race.

“It’s not going to change our day,” Coulthard said.

“It’s obviously nice to qualify out the front but these conditions today, it’s just going to be purely a race of survival.”

DJR Team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin, who is 97 points off the championship lead, will start from 12th.

Saturday’s 102-lap race starts at 2.25pm (3.25pm AEDT).