Waters beats the V8s wet

Cam Waters has the first V8 Supercars pole position of his career after clocking the hottest lap in a rain-affected qualifying session at Barbagallo Raceway in Perth.

Waters’ time of 59.63 seconds was good enough for a place on the front row of the grid alongside fellow Ford young gun Chaz Mostert for Saturday’s 120km race.

But more than half the field were left seething by a steward’s decision to red-flag the session after Michael Caruso’s crash.

Caruso beached his Nissan on his first hot lap, allowing just 11 drivers to set times while the track was reasonably dry.

As the race was stopped to rescue Caruso, heavy rain set in, meaning the 15 other drivers couldn’t hope to set a time close to Waters.

Triple Eight pair Craig Lowndes and Shane van Gisbergen will share the second row, with recent champions Mark Winterbottom and Jamie Whincup starting from the third row.

The early-finishing top 11 didn’t even bother to get back in their cars after the Caruso slip-up, spending less than three minutes on the track.

Scott McLaughlin, who won the last two races at Phillip Island, was one of several cruelled by the red flag and will start from 15th.

A further trip to the sand from David Reynolds brought a second red flag but had little bearing on the standings.

The race begins at 2:45pm (4:45pm AEST).

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