- Will Brown will have to start from 11th position on the grid after causing the crash
- It played an important role in the composition of the grid with several other cars involved.
Supercars Championship leader Will Brown will start from 11th on the grid for the Gold Coast 500 after causing a spectacular multi-car crash on Saturday.
While Richie Stanaway set the fastest time. Brown spun at Turn 11, leaving Nick Percat and Tim Slade with no room to avoid the collision.
Stanaway secured top spot before the incident with a lap time of 1:10.4448s, while key championship rivals Chaz Mostert, Cam Waters and Broc Feeney earned their places in the Top-10 Shootout.
After causing the red flag, Brown’s fastest lap was invalidated, demoting him to eleventh place and promoting reigning champion Brodie Kostecki to the penalty shootout.
“I’ve been back-blocking there for the last couple of sessions and I thought I’d make it work but it didn’t… These things happen, it’s the Gold Coast,” Brown said.
In brilliant conditions, in the opening laps drivers such as Cameron Hill, Feeney and Waters set competitive times, with Mostert briefly leading the table with a 1:10.5148s.
As the final laps approached, Thomas Randle improved to fourth place, knocking Matt Payne out of the top 10.
All drivers re-entered the track for the final push and in a thrilling close of the session, Waters and Mostert challenged for the lead before Stanaway posted the fastest time.
Will Brown leads the Supercars Championship but will start the Gold Coast 500 from 11th place
Brown crashed into the barriers at Turn 11 during qualifying, which knocked him back for the feature race.
Brown’s accident had a domino effect: several other drivers collided with his car.
Unfortunately for Brown, his accident affected Percat and Slade, who will start 19th and 21st, respectively.
Cam Waters later had a standout performance in the Top-10 Shootout, securing pole position for the first 250km race with a lap of 1:11.058s despite side contact with the wall.
Waters, who won at Surfers Paradise last year, will start at the front of the field, with Richie Stanaway close behind in second by 0.117 seconds.
Championship contenders Mostert and Feeney will start the race from the second row, in third and fourth positions.
Tickford’s Thomas Randle finished fifth in the shootout, while reigning series champion Kostecki faced challenges including a curb hit that relegated him to 10th place.
Payne also ran into trouble after a turn 11 run off the track, leaving him ninth on the grid.
The first race of the weekend starts at 4:15 p.m.
Race 21 Top 10 Shootout Results:
Cam Waters (Tickford Racing)
Richie Stanaway (Grove Racing)
Chaz Mostert (Walkinshaw Andretti United)
Broc Feeney (Triple Eight Racing Engineering)
Thomas Randle (Tickford Racing)
James Golding (PremiAir Nulon Racing)
James Courtney (Blanchard Team Racing)
David Reynolds (Team 18)
Matt Payne (Grove Racing)
Brodie Kostecki (Erebus Motorsport)
