Supercars Sandown 500: Brown takes pole in wet shootout

Will Brown secured his second Supercars pole position of the season in a wet and wild qualifying for the Sandown 500.

With the day interrupted by rain and squally weather, Brown came out on top in  the top 10 shootout - a time of 1m10.2549s in the Triple Eight Chevrolet Camaro he will share with Scott Pye in Sunday's race bettering Tickford Racing's Cam Waters, who shares with James Moffat.

“I knew it would just be who didn't stuff up out there,” said Brown.

“Great start, absolutely stoked. It was tough, between [turns] one and two there was a lot of water on the road. I knew Chaz [Mostert] would be hard to beat and also Broc [Feeney], it is a really cool feeling.”

Waters looked like taking the fastest time until he ran wide at the final corner, losing 0.2s in the process.

“It was a bit of a lucky dip really,” he explained. “There were rivers and dirt on the track that we had to work out on the fly. I am pretty happy where we are in a dry car; in a wet car, we are OK."

Photo by: Supercars

Anton de Pasquale provided the shock of the shootout by finishing third, having taken to the track first by virtue of finishing 10th in the first part of qualifying. He conceded he almost spun at the final corner before his lap had even started, though he recovered for a second-row berth for him and co-driver Tony D'Alberto.

“It is always good to move forward; it has been a very difficult day, to move up to third is very excited,” said de Pasquale.

“I have not done many 500s, I might have started one! There are some quick cars around us, it is hard to know. Yesterday it looked quite good, to have a fast car around here will be quite good.”

Brodie Kostecki took the fourth fastest time in the Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro he will share with Todd Hazelwood with a time of 1m10.5309s. He just edged out defending race winner Broc Feeney (Triple Eight Chevrolet Camaro) and Chaz Mostert (Walkinshaw Andretti United Ford Mustang), who will share with long-time co-driver Lee Holdsworth.

Richie Stanaway (Grove Racing Ford), Andre Heimgartner (Brad Jones Racing Chevrolet), Matt Payne (Grove Racing Ford) and Ryan Wood (WAU Ford) rounded out the top 10.

Nick Percat missed out on the shootout by 0.04s and will start the race from 11th in the Matt Stone Racing Chevrolet, just ahead of James Courtney (Blanchard Racing Ford).

For the first time in recent history, the race will start with the teams' 'main' drivers at the wheel, while in previous years the common practice was that co-drivers start the race before completing their minimum number of required laps.