Rising star James Golding is primed to nab back-to-back Supercars poles in Sydney as Chaz Mostert’s lacklustre start to his championship defence continues.
Blanchard Racing Team (BR) driver Golding navigated the ever-changing weather at Sydney Motorsport Park the best on Saturday to snare provisional pole and reach the top-10 shootout for Saturday’s 200km sprint race.
Team 18 driver Anton De Pasquale was second-fastest, followed by Dick Johnson Racing’s Brodie Kostecki in third.
Broc Feeney – who had christened his new Ford Mustang by claiming victory in Friday’s season-opening race – qualified sixth.
But defending champion Mostert couldn’t find any reprieve in the new Toyota Supra, qualifying 22nd after finishing Friday’s race in 15th.
Gifting BRT their first pole position a day before, Golding flaunted serious pace to break his own Gen3 record, clocking a lap time of one minute 27.852 seconds.
They lead the teams’ championship after Aaron Cameron finished second ahead of third-placed Golding on Friday.
“Even better than yesterday, somehow,” Golding said over the team radio.
Cameron qualified in eighth, as Mostert’s Walkinshaw TWG Racing teammate Ryan Wood was the only Supra driver to make the shootout and finished 10th.
Drivers were expecting the rain to hold off until after qualifying, with temperatures soaring to 30 degrees.
Barely six minutes had passed of the 30-minute session before rain caught the 24-strong grid off guard.
But the rain stopped soon after as teams contemplated changing to wet tyres, with the track cooling later in the session as wind ushered in a temperature change.
Mostert, who qualified 20th on Friday, remained pragmatic.
“Just learning. It’s going to be up and down,” Mostert told Fox Sports.
RACE TWO TOP 10 SHOOTOUT:
1. James Golding (Blanchard Racing Team)
2. Anton De Pasquale (Team 18)
3. Brodie Kostecki (Dick Johnson Racing)
4. Cam Waters (Tickford Racing)
5. Zach Bates (Matt Stone Racing)
6. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight Race Engineering)
7. Thomas Randle (Tickford)
8. Aaron Cameron (BRT)
9. Matt Payne (Grove Racing)
10. Ryan Wood (Walkinshaw TWG Racing)
