Supercars News: Golding stuns field with fastest time in Darwin Quals
PremiAir Nulon Racing’s James Golding (No. 31 Chevrolet Camaro) has taken a shock provisional pole in qualifying on Friday at the betr Darwin Triple Crown, with a mixed grid to finish the first day of action in the Top End.
He will be the last car out for tomorrow’s Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout, as the Gold Coast-based driver will look to secure his first career Supercars pole position.
Golding can now win the Darwin Triple Crown, but will have to win both tomorrow and Sunday’s 139-kilometre races to become the third driver ever to take the honors.
Nick Percat (No. 10 Bendix Chevrolet Camaro) has made a welcome return to the top of the time sheets, provisionally qualifying second just 0.07 of a second off Golding’s time.
A race winner at Darwin last year, Mark Winterbottom (No. 18 DeWalt Chevrolet Camaro) was third quickest ahead of the Triple Eight Race Engineering duo of Broc Feeney (No. 88 Red Bull Ampol Chevrolet Camaro) and Will Brown (No. 87 Red Bull Ampol Chevrolet Camaro) rounding out the top five.
The fastest 10 drivers from today’s qualifying session will take part in the Shootout to determine the first five rows for Saturday’s race.
“It’s really challenging out there, with the heat up here in Darwin and getting the tires dialed in right without sliding it too much and having some tire left at the end of the lap there,” Golding said.
“So, pretty tricky, but yeah, managed to hold on to it. Credit to all the boys and girls here. We’ve been working really hard over the last couple of years, we’re finally getting closer.
“Obviously the job’s not finished yet. I wish there wasn’t a Shootout now, but it’s a good way to be certainly heading into tomorrow. We’ve got a lot of confidence.”
Further down the order, Walkinshaw Andretti United had a day to forget, Chaz Mostert (No. 25 Mobil 1 Optus Ford Mustang) – who won in Perth last month – managing just 22nd and rookie teammate Ryan Wood (No. 2 Mobil 1 Truck Assist Ford Mustang) 24th.
Qualifying Results
| POS | NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | TIME | BEHIND |
| 1 | 31 | J. Golding | PremiAir Nulon Racing | 1:05.691 | +0.000 |
| 2 | 10 | Percat | Tyrepower Racing | 1:05.765 | +0.074 |
| 3 | 18 | Winterbottom | Tradie Beer Racing | 1:05.843 | +0.152 |
| 4 | 88 | B. Feeney | Red Bull Ampol Racing | 1:05.897 | +0.205 |
| 5 | 87 | W. Brown | Red Bull Ampol Racing | 1:05.902 | +0.211 |
| 6 | 11 | A. de Pasquale | Shell V-Power Racing Team | 1:05.943 | +0.252 |
| 7 | 20 | Reynolds | Tradie Beer Racing | 1:05.956 | +0.265 |
| 8 | 23 | Slade | PremiAir Nulon Racing | 1:05.961 | +0.270 |
| 9 | 6 | C. Waters | Monster Castrol Racing | 1:05.974 | +0.283 |
| 10 | 8 | Heimgartner | R&J Batteries Racing | 1:06.030 | +0.339 |
| 11 | 1 | B. Kostecki | Erebus Motorsport | 1:06.071 | +0.380 |
| 12 | 9 | J. Le Brocq | Erebus Motorsport | 1:06.072 | +0.381 |
| 13 | 19 | M. Payne | Penrite Racing | 1:06.077 | +0.386 |
| 14 | 26 | R. Stanaway | Penrite Racing | 1:06.098 | +0.407 |
| 15 | 55 | T. Randle | Monster Castrol Racing | 1:06.158 | +0.467 |
| 16 | 14 | B. Fullwood | R&J Batteries Racing | 1:06.238 | +0.547 |
| 17 | 17 | Davison | Shell V-Power Racing Team | 1:06.242 | +0.550 |
| 18 | 7 | Courtney | Snowy River Racing | 1:06.264 | +0.573 |
| 19 | 4 | C. Hill | Tyrepower Racing | 1:06.292 | +0.601 |
| 20 | 96 | M. Jones | SCT Motorsport | 1:06.336 | +0.645 |
| 21 | 12 | J. Evans | SCT Motorsport | 1:06.459 | +0.768 |
| 22 | 25 | Mostert | Walkinshaw Andretti United | 1:06.478 | +0.787 |
| 23 | 888 | C. Murray | Team Vortex | 1:06.483 | +0.792 |
| 24 | 2 | R. Wood | Walkinshaw Andretti United | 1:06.495 | +0.804 |
| 25 | 3 | A. Love | Snowy River Racing | 1:06.585 | +0.893 |