Brown grabs provisional pole for Darwin finale, Mostert 20th

Championship leader Brown beat 2023 champion Brodie Kostecki to top spot by 0.1905s in the 15-minute session with Tim Slade third as PremiAir Racing’s strong form continued.

Will Davison was first of the Ford contingent, in fourth position, with Dick Johnson Racing team-mate Anton De Pasquale the only other Mustang pilot in the top 10.

Both Grove Racing cars missed out, with Matt Payne 11th, while Tickford Racing’s Cam Waters and Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Mostert will share Row 10 of the starting grid this afternoon.

All three Triple Eight Race Engineering Chevrolets, on the other hand, made it into the one-lap dash, with wildcard Cooper Murray fifth-fastest in the #888 Supercheap Auto Camaro.

Qualifying for Race 12 immediately followed a 45-minute Carrera Cup race and thus there was an incentive to go hard early given how Supercars‘ Dunlop tyres typically respond to the Michelin rubber which the Porsches lay down.

De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang) set a 1:06.1718s straight out of the box before Triple Eight’s Brown (#87 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) took over top spot with a 1:06.1519s on his second hot lap.

Most did just the one lap on their first run and Brown held sway from De Pasquale, Mark Winterbottom (#18 DeWalt Camaro), and Broc Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro), with Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang) 15th and Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang) 22nd, amid conjecture about whether or not the latter started on new tyres.

Kostecki (#1 Erebus Motorsport Camaro) then jumped into first spot on a 1:05.8971s and Jack Le Brocq (#9 Tyrepower Camaro) made it an Erebus one-two with a 1:06.0523s, before they were split by Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang) on a 1:05.9941s.

Ahead of the final runs, Race 11 winner Feeney was 12th, Mostert 16th, and Waters 21st.

Kostecki felt the need to go again in the latter minutes but it was Brown moving the benchmark to a 1:05.7066s before Feeney climbed to fifth on a 1:06.0578s.

Saturday pole-sitter James Golding (#31 Nulon Camaro) went fourth on a 1:06.0510s before team-mate Slade (#23 Nulon Camaro) took over third on a 1:05.9824s.

Murray lifted himself back into the top 10 with a 1:06.0282s which was good enough for fifth, before De Pasquale scraped in with a 1:06.0904s just prior to the chequered flag which bumped Payne (#19 Penrite Mustang) to 11th.

The top 10 was thus Brown, Kostecki, Slade, Davison, Murray, Golding, Le Brocq, Feeney, Cameron Hill (#4 Dabble Camaro), and De Pasquale.

Payne will share Row 6 with Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries Camaro), Stanaway (#26 Penrite Mustang) ended up 15th, Waters could only make 19th on a 1:06.2638s, and Mostert finished 0.5654s off the pace in 20th.

The Top 10 Shootout for Race 12 of the Repco Supercars Championship starts at 11:35 local time/12:05 AEST, before the Betr Darwin Triple Crown concludes with another 48-lap encounter this afternoon.

Results: Qualifying for Race 12, Betr Darwin Triple Crown